Dauntless Initiation
by 46divergent64
Summary: Dauntless Initiation without the war - takes place one year after Tris' initiation - Four and Six, and Christina and Uriah, are the instructors! Dauntless traditions, candor or dauntless, training, initiates and more. Read on? Why not. It gets better throughout the story, I promise!
1. Intimate Interruption

**hI gUyS, tHiS iS mY fIrSt FaNfIc So PlEaSe ReAd AnD rEvIeW aNd LeT mE kNoW wHaT yOu ThInK**

**DISCLAIMER**

**I dOn'T oWn DiVeRgEnT – yOu KnOw HoW iT gOeS, sAmE fOr EvErY cHaPtEr**

**SoOoOo, ThIs TaKeS pLaCe OnE yEaR aFtEr TrIs' InItIaTiOn**

**FiRsT cHaPtEr JuSt SeTs ThE sCeNe - GiVe It A cHaNcE aNd ReAd A fEw ChApTeRs? ThAnK yOu!**

**PlEaSe LeT mE kNoW wHaT yOu ThInK (gOoD oR bAd). **

1 year after initiation

Tris' POV

*beep beep beep*

*beep beep beep*

I roll onto my side and away from the warmth of Tobias' arms. 7:00am. Great. Turning off the alarm, I wipe the sleep from my eyes and stretch out noticing Tobias still sleeping. I love waking up with him every morning, I've been so happy ever since he asked me to move in with him.

"Toooooobiaaaaas," I whisper to him in a sing-song voice, "Tobiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaass"

The only response is a groan and the blanket being pulled tighter.

"No no no no no Mister!" I say, now lying on my stomach tracing his abs. "Time to get up!"

"Tris," Tobias groans this time opening his eyes and looking towards me. His eyes sparkling with such a strong blue, even at this time in the morning.

"Get up!" I say to him and giggle. A smile involuntarily carves itself onto my face and I don't even try to suppress it. I peer up at the words 'Fear God Alone' and shake Tobias.

"Make me," I watch as his lips curve into a smirk. He's a different man with me, more relaxed and playful.

"Oh I can do that," I say giggling as I shift my body so that now I'm on top of him, straddling his waist. I lean in so that our lips are millimetres apart and whisper one word, "easily."

He lifts his arms now placing them on the small of my back and lifts his head slightly so that his lips meet mine. We kiss, passionate and desperate, but not needy. That's what I love about Tobias, he never pressures me into anything. My hands are in his hair and his arms are sliding up the back of my shirt as our kiss deepens. He pulls away from the kiss and looks at me, his hands slowly sliding my shirt up as if to ask 'can I?'. I don't respond, I just lift my arms up as he slides my shirt off. His shirt off? I don't even know, I sleep in his shirts. They always make me feel safe, ever since the first time I wore his jacket after he saved me. Tobias throws the shirt to the side of our room as he returns his hands to my back. He pushes me over so now, he is on top. Just as my back hits the mattress our door flies open and I notice a figure in the doorway. Tobias breaks away from me immediately falling on the mattress to the side as we both eagerly look up to see who just ruined our moment.

"I'm sorry, was I interrupting something," a smug voice that could only belong to one person asks. Max.

"No clearly you weren't," Tobias mumbles sarcasticallyq, obviously pissed off we couldn't continue.

"It's fine," I speak over Tobias hoping Max didn't notice anything.

"Oh, is this yours?" Max holds up the shirt I was wearing less than 5 minutes ago. Shoot! I forgot, I'm shirtless! And now I'm sitting in front of the Dauntless leader in a bra and a pair of shorts.

"Thanks," I blurt out, feeling heat rise to my cheeks. I take the shirt from Max and hurriedly slide it on, thank goodness though that this was Max not Eric because Max's attention is already diverted to Tobias.

"Four, can I talk to you?" Max asks Tobias, but it's clearly not actually a question.

"Yes sure."

"Maybe we should continue this later?" Max asks to my relief clearly noticing the situation. "Meeting Room 3, say 8:30? Tris you come too." Before receiving an answer, he was gone.


	2. Meeting With Max 1

**gIvE mE yOuR tHoUgHtS - ReViEw ReViEw ReViEw!**

"Well that was..."

"Unusual," Tobias finishes for me noticing my loss of words. I went into the washroom to get changed. I put on black jeans and a black v-neck shirt that showed my ravens. I applied mascara and a layer of eye liner just like Christina showed me and by the time I walk out I notice Tobias is already dressed.

"Ready for breakfast, Tris?"

"Mmh hhm" Tobias pulls me in to him placing his lips on mine. We stay interlocked and after a moment I break away, "race you there." I give him a cheeky grin as I start to sprint off. My hair flies from my neck and my feet thunder across the stone floors.

I hear Tobias shouting behind me about how that was unfair but I don't care, I'm going to beat him there! I burst through the doors of the cafeteria laughing and slide into a seat beside Marlene. Everyone in our group looks at me like I'm crazy as Tobias slides in next to me and kisses me on the cheek.

"Cheat."

"But you still love me," I smile as my lips meet his.

"GET A ROOM!" The group shout at us in sync and we reluctantly break away. I'm not minding affection as much as I used to. I often forget certain attributes of my Abnegation self; the order and independence of it's lifestyle.

"Tris okay so I'm going shopping today and-" Christina is cut off by Marlene.

"Eherm"

"Oh sorry. Tris, we're going shopping today," Christina places emphasis on 'we're'. I know where this conversation is going. Nowhere good, that's certain.

"Christina, Shauna and I," Marlene butts in again which receives a glare from Christina, playful yet serious.

"And your coming with us!" Yep. That's where it was going. Yay... Great. Shopping.

"Sorry girls, as much as I'd love too," Shauna cuts me off before I can give an excuse by scoffing and fake choking on her food. Zeke laughs and pats her on the back but I just roll my eyes and continue, "Four and I have some stuff we need to finish up." I squeeze Tobias' hand hoping he will go along with it.

"What stuff?" He smirks at me. Bugger. He will pay for this.

"The meeting with Max and all," I recover quickly, pleased with myself. I've never been so grateful for a Dauntless Leader.

Christina stops eating, "oh yeah I know, I have to go to that too, 8:30? Meeting Room 3? Max walked in on me this morning while I was straightening my hair and I burnt my finger. Man doesn't know how to knock." Tell me about it.

"I'm going to that meeting too!" Uriah cries through a mouthful of muffin.

Christiania just says, "yeah don't worry, we will start shopping at 11:30."

"We have other stuff to do though sorry Christina," I place my hand strategically on the inside of Tobias' thigh as I look at him. "We have to finish some of the work we started this morning." I hope that right now, Tobias is thinking through lust rather than humour. Big mistake.

"It's okay babe, that can wait 'til tonight," he leans in close enough so that only I can hear, "have fun shopping." I just wack his arm and finish my muffin.

"Ok guys it's 8:20, we should probably head to... Where are we going again?" Oh Uriah, keep trying...

Christina just laughs and rolls her eyes as the four of us rise from our seats.

"Hey, you little cheater!" Tobias smirks to me, "don't think you're getting of that easy." He swings me over his shoulders and runs to catch up with Christina and Uriah.

"I'm going shopping, do you really think I'm getting off easy?!" I ask just loud enough for him to hear it but not loud enough for the others to.

"Oh yeah, about that, buy something... Sexy? Would ya?" There's a sparkle in his eyes and for a second I get lost in them before I realise what he said. I'm still around his shoulders so I can't know for sure but does he look... Nervous? Wait! He's serious! Oh Tobias you cheeky boy.

I place my lips just beside his ear and whisper in the most seductive voice possible, "and we will finish what we started this morning." I think I feel him shudder but I'm not a hundred percent sure and he turns his head about to kiss me.

"Hey lovebirds!" Christina shouts snapping us out of our conversation.

"We're here" Uriah finishes for her.

"Four, Tris, I think I've ruined enough of your intimate moments so uh..." Max appears this time and Tobias places me on the ground gently. "Let's go in." As we were walking through the doorway, Tobias spins me around and locks his lips on mine, "Four!" Max calls not even turning back. Man, does he have like a sixth sense for whenever Tobias and I kiss? I push the thought away and walk past Tobias grabbing his hand as I do so.

"There is a reason I called the four of you to a meeting today." Max begins but Uriah cuts him off.

"Oh really? I though we were just here to party." Not a great time to be sarcastic Uriah. Luckily, Max ignores the comment.

"I want you all to train this years' initiates."


	3. Meeting with Max 2

**LiKe It? FaVoUrItE + fOlLoW?**

**dOn'T lIkE iT? tElL mE wHy?**

**EnJoY!**

Wow. That was actually not what I was expecting to hear. I don't even know what I WAS expecting to hear, but it certainly was not that.

"Yeah!" Christina squeals at the same time Tobias says, "No."

Uriah and I sit there. Stunned.

"Four?" I speak finally coming to my senses, "what's up?"

"I..." Tobias begins but then lowers his voice so he thinks only I can hear it, "I don't want you to have to worry Tris," he looks deep into my eyes with a stern face, "I just don't want you to have to see the fights and -"

"I can handle it, hey, It will be fun ok? We can scare the crap out of some transfers." I smile to him and after thinking through my suggestion he smiles back.

"You know we can hear you right?" Uriah whispers, which, I assume receives a glare from Christina but I don't care, I just take Tobias' hand in my own.

"Let's do it?" I ask.

"Let's do it," he smiles and I feel united, we are a team and I like it, I really do. He looks back to Max and the others and states, "but we are taking the transfers."

"Of course, I wanted the Dauntless-born anyway! Show them who the real bosses are!" Uriah smiles.

"Oh gosh... And I'm guessing I'm stuck being partnered with... With that?" Christina points to Uriah. We all laugh, surprisingly, so does Max and I can't help but stare. He meets my eyes as the laughter dies down.

"Thanks guys," Max stands, eyes still locked with mine and begins to leave.

"Max!" Tobias stands and calls after him. Christina, Uriah and I all look at each other before sprinting after them. What's happening?

"Four?"

Tobias stands tall with his arms crossed in front of his chest. I catch up to him and stand by his side, the others doing so as well. "I have one condition before I agree."

"And what would that be?" Max raises an eyebrow.

"Eric has no involvement in the initiation process." That was unexpected. Fair! But unexpected.

"Four -"

"No. Max, if Eric has any involvement, I will drop out of this and so will Tris and I'm sure Christina and Uriah will agree. No Eric." Christina scoffs and turns around muttering, "damn straight."

"May I ask why?" I can already tell Max will agree, everyone in Dauntless adores Tobias and because of that, everyone loves me. I heard one girl saying once that we were considered the 'star couple' in Dauntless...

"Because Eric is cruel. He is ruthless and psychotic and quite frankly, a pain in the ass. If Eric's there, none of us are." As if on cue, Christina grabs my hand and I see her grab Uriah's so I reach forward and grab Tobias'. He doesn't resist and now, we look like a team; an unbeatable force that Max wants.

"In that case, I suppose you would be happy to know that Eric is no longer a Dauntless Member let alone Leader. He left for Erudite headquarters yesterday evening. He will have no bearing on initiation." My gosh, yeaaah! "Choosing Ceremony is in one week, organise the training schedule. I will have information books posted to your apartments on what must be taught during practise, anything else they learn is a bonus. Both groups must be taught the same thing during the same amount of time and you, as a group, must figure out the specifics."

"Ok" "thank you" "of course" "sure" we all speak in unison. Just before Max leaves he calls out to Tobias, "Four. Walk with me, we need to talk!"

"And we need to meet Shauna and Marlene at the shops!" Christina grabs my arm and starts walking, "see ya Uri!"

"But it's only 9:30?" I question and Christina smirks.

"Never too early to shop my dear! Plus, I sent the girls a message and they are going to meet us there now instead of later!"

I inwardly groan. Or outwardly? I don't really care, Christina knows I hate shopping.


	4. Shopping Time!

**lEt Me KnOw WhAt YoU tHiNk! ReViEw, Pm, FaV/fOlLoW. i CaN't MaKe My StOrIeS bEtTeR uNlEsS yOu TeLl Me WhAt YoU lIkE aNd DoN't (:**

Tris' POV

"Ok so first store we are going into is Night Striker. Tris, you need dresses because you have, like, none and Shauna you need a dress or two as well so let's go." Christina gives us the mission briefing and, after thinking about it for a bit, I decide we are going in to some kind of battle so in some ways I guess it is a mission briefing.

After being in this store for 45 minutes, I've tried on 17 dresses and am buying 5. Christina insisted I buy them all but my maximum was 5 so she settled. I'm pretty sure Shauna bought 2 and I don't even know if Christina or Marlene ended up buying the dresses they tried on. They tried on a lot. A lot.

We went into about 3 more stores before having lunch; which Shauna and I basically had to fight to get time for. It was harder than initiation itself. We won the war in the end though and had a hamburger each. After lunch we were straight back to shopping, Christina and Marlene made sure of that! I'm starting to wonder just who's worse…

We went into an uncountable number of stores and bought shirts, jeans, shorts, shoes, accessories, makeup. Marlene tried to get me to buy a pair of pyjamas so I bought a pair of pj shorts but I kept declining to buy shirts. When I told them I prefer sleeping in Tobias' shirts they thought it was the cutest thing ever. I actually like us being thought of as a cute couple because I guess I never thought that I would be half of that 'star couple'. Abnegation never had exclusive couples so I never really thought about it at all. But Dauntless do.

At five o'clock we were told shopping was over and just after me and Shauna started partying between ourselves, literally breaking into dance in the middle of the pit, Christina grabbed my arm.

"We still have a few things to do though missy!" I just stared at Christina speechlessly as she adds, "we will see you guys later, k?"

Marlene just said, "k," but Shauna started laughing and poked her tongue out at me! I mouthed to her 'help me' but she kept laughing, clutching her stomach as her and Marlene walked off. I looked back at Christina about to ask where we have to go but before I opened my mouth I noticed the smirk smeared across her face.

"You and a Four." She states the words as if I'm magically going to get what she meant.

"What about Four and I?" Where is this going? Wherever it is, I don't like it… Christina, a smirk, my relationship. Three things I'd rather not mix.

"Don't play dumb Tris!"

"I don't know what you mean!"

Christina just keeps smirking at me. "You and Four did it!" I stood there processing what she said as the pit surrounding us fades away. Christina explains, "did it did it! Like, it!" Why would she think that?

"No!" I could feel the heat of fire burning in my cheeks and knew I was blushing. Dammit.

"Yes!"

"No, Christina I don't know what makes you think that but no!" We start walking back the way we came, in the opposite direction of Shauna, my one and only lifeline.

"Oh" is all she says and she actually looks... Sad? No... "Well… Wait! So when you were talking with Four earlier about finishing what you started earlier? And about getting something 'sexy' to wear and the way you've been happy all day and Max saying he interrupted your intimate moments and when-"

"Christina!" I stop walking and cut her off, "we only made out!" She just gives me an odd look and I have to roll my eyes, "I'm a virgin."

"Oh. Ok then. Let's sort that problem out then, Seven," Christina winks at me and drags me further to the opposite end of the stores. Oh no.

"Uhhhhhh Christina," I hurry up so I'm next to her and catch sight of the huge grin on her face.

"Yessy Trissy?"

"No! No no no no no! I'm not going in there!" We were our side of DauntlessDivas - a lingerie store. Great.

"Four wanted you to get something sexy to wear, Seven, and then we can change your name to Six." She was proud.

"What makes you so sure if I buy lingerie, To- I mean Four and I will do 'that'?" I look around awkwardly hoping nobody is watching us, the bright lights of the lingerie store shining behind me like a spotlight. Never in my life have I wanted to shrink into the walls more than right now.

"Oh believe me, when he sees you in some of this stuff, he will be ALL over you." When did we get in the store? I don't remember walking in? I hope nobody saw me come in here... I was outside a second ago.

I told Christina I only wanted something simple but I didn't realise how much there was here. She told me tonight to wear a black lace bra we bought. It was push up but I was ok with it because it would make my body look older than twelve. Then again, I don't like the idea of someone else monitoring my intimacy. Christina also told me to wear these lacey panties, also black. I just sighed while she added some other stuff to my pile saying they would look great and that I would need them when Candor attacked Dauntless? No that must be wrong. But she said I would need them for something to do with Candor and Dauntless...

Christina finally let me retreat and told me to use protection. I just rolled my eyes and walked back to my and Tobias' apartment. I miss him already.


	5. Shooting Range

**iT wOuLd SeRiOuSlY mAkE mY dAy If YoU FaVoUrItE, fOlLoW oR rEvIeW mY sToRy!**

Tobias' POV

"Four. Walk with me, we need to talk." Max calls to me before he turns to leave. Just me? Wonder what it is now... The last time he asked to talk to me it was about... Oh right of course. He wants me to be a Dauntless Leader. This time last year, I refused. I wouldn't even consider it. It was the same the time before that. But now... Now I've met Tris - now I love Tris! - it might be a good decision... If that's what he's offering.

I leave Tris' side to catch up with Max forgetting to say goodbye to the girls or Uriah. It takes me four strides until I hover at his side. He senses as I approach and walks.

"You know why you're here Four?" His voice is stern, demanding the respect deserved as a Dauntless leader.

"I believe so."

"I'm going to ask you anyway. Are you interested in becoming a Dauntless Leader? You are number one on our list to replace Eric. Oh heck, you were above Eric on our list Four. Take the job, you'd be perfect at it and -" I almost laugh. Max really wants me to take this job. He's even trying to persuade me.

"I'll take it." I answer before he can finish selling his case.

"You'd what?" Max is in shock. Disbelief.

"It's a promotion from the control room; which I love don't get me wrong. But it's a promotion and I don't just have to think about myself now, I'll take the job."

"Woah okay. Talk to Tris about this later and uh, give me your answer when you need. Preferably sooner rather than later, with Eric gone we need his place filled soon. Think it through Four but we could use someone of your talents." When Max turns to me and smiles it doesn't reach his eyes, the hardened nature of a Dauntless soldier revealed in the simplest actions. "Want to go see the areas of Dauntless only the leaders can access?"

"I didn't think there was much of Dauntless that only Leaders could access?" I'm slightly confused. I would know this; hours spent in the control room, monitoring every square centimeter of the compound. Although the areas unavailable to the public are not monitored so I haven't seen them - but I've gathered intelligence, mapping out the area in my mind.

"There isn't much, but there's some offices, meeting rooms, interrogation rooms, typical off-limits business areas, but oh! There's a park! A small one and to be honest it's nothing special but it's a park none the less." Max takes me on a tour of these areas and shows me where my office would be. It's nice: a rather large room with a desk at the back and a large leather chair for me. There are two chairs in front of my desk for visitors as well as a small couch in the side of my room and a seat next to it, probably for talking to people I'm trying to sooth. Max briefs me on the work I will be doing if I do accept the offer and gives me the best deal he can. Before I know it, it's lunchtime so I head down to get some burgers.

I take my seat next to Zeke, opposite to Uri and Will. Tris and the girls leave through the opposite door as I arrive and I'm partly glad I missed them so that I could tell Tris about everything later in private.

"What are the girls doing?" I ask as I sit down with my lunch.

"Shopping," Uriah is the one that answers me.

I should know better than to ask but I do anyway, "still?"

"Dude, Christina? Shopping?" Will answers this time after taking a drink, water in his metal cup sloshing from side to side as he places it back on the table.

"Course."

"Tris and Shauna must be ready to jump off the chasm by now," Zeke has his turn to speak and we all laugh because, well, it's true. They probably are.

"What are you guys doing this afternoon?" I ask hoping to do something while Tris is out. Sitting alone in our apartment is something I don't miss about the years before she came; having my own shirts though, well…

"We're going shooting, want to come?" Zeke offers and of course, I accept.

We head down to the shooting range after lunch and try out some different guns. They all have blanks but have the same effect as real bullets. Zeke and I hit the centre almost every time and Uriah isn't too far behind. But Will did an average job shooting - an average job to the Dauntless, at least - so I help him with his technique and by the end of the day, he's just as good as Uri.

"I should probably go now guys, see ya later!" Will leaves the shooting range and I agree, we have been here a while.

"I think I will head off too, you guys coming?" Uriah asks and Zeke and I stop shooting to look at him.

"What's the Uri? You scared of going to your apartment by yourself?" Zeke talks in a baby voice and I just smirk, reloading my gun, as Uriah laughs and throws a punch at his big brother. Before I know it, Zeke has Uriah in a headlock and we are all laughing.

"See ya's!" Uriah calls as he walks out of the shooting range with his head still intact.

"So… Four," oh gosh. Here we go. I know Zeke well enough to know that tone. "Is Tris a good kisser?"

"Zeke." I fire a blast of blanks into the target, each hitting the centre.

"C'mon Four," a quick wink in between more shots, "is she any good in bed?" We both stop shooting and I glare at him.

"Serious Zeke? I am holding a loaded gun and you're asking me this." In that moment I could've shot him. Just in the thigh or gut, and I thought about it, but I didn't.

He laughs, "I'm just playing with you, I got my eyes on someone else. But seriously, she basically lives with you dude. Every night?" Zeke whistles, "that's aloooooot of lovin'."

"Woah no!" I don't even know what to say? Speechless. "We don't do that every night!"

"Haha sure sure Four," sometime in the conversation we started shooting again.

"We haven't even..." I hit the target dead centre turning to face him. "We haven't even done it once Zeke."

Zeke stops shooting immediately, "so wait... You mean... You, Four, scary, fierce, Dauntless Prodigy that all the ladies love, have never, not one time had an intimate encounter. You're a virgin?"

"Yes," I say and Zeke almost laughs until he realises I'm serious.

"Never saw that coming," he turns and starts shooting again. "Is she, as well?"

"Yep," I don't like this conversation. Not at all.

"Dude you gotta get in there! Like seriously how long have you guys been dating? What, a year now? You're both old enough and oh..."

Zeke stops suddenly. "What Zeke?" I say trying to finish this conversation.

"She was the initiate the rumors were about! She was scared of intimacy wasn't she?" I just continue shooting. "Oh, well, that changes everything. In that case, good on you Four, you're a great boyfriend but you're missing out my friend." Zeke smiles but I don't want to know anymore, any details.

"So Zeke," I grin, now it's my turn to be annoying and my opportunity to change the subject. "Who is this 'someone else' you have your eyes on?"

Through the corner of my eye I see Zeke shift his weight and know he's hiding something back. I will find out whom, I will.


	6. Training Schedule

**fAvOuRiTe ThE fAnFiC aNd YoU'lL hAvE aN eVeRlAsTiNg SuPpLy Of DaUnTlEsS cAkE – i PrOmIsE!**

Tris' POV

It's been three days since shopping with Christina and finding out about Tobias' offer from Max. I told him that I was happy either way of course and he chose to accept. I decided not to show off my lingerie to Tobias just yet. I'm waiting until the right moment because I know that when I show them to him, it means I'm ready and I'm not yet. Christina has asked me everyday if I have and I just keep shaking my head. I love her to bits but not right now.

"Tris?" "Tris!" "Triii-iiiiis?!" I shake my head.

"What? Sorry?" Christina, Uriah, Tobias and I are meeting about the initiates' training schedule and I just completely tuned out. Oops.

"I was just making sure you wanted to train the transfers?" Tobias is asking me, his hand slips into mine. I squeeze his hand as if to say 'I'm ok' but he doesn't let go and I'm grateful.

"Yes, transfers. Is that ok with you guys?" Everyone nods.

"Ok, we have to keep the training the same for both groups?" Christina asks Four and he nods. He's the unspoken leader at organising this, we all know he will do the best job - he did do this last year with Lauren.

"Well, we have a maximum of three weeks to train the initiates so we could do two days of shooting and two days of knife throwing to start with?" Uriah suggests, "the first day of each can be a practise day and the second can be the judging day?"

I actually think it's a smart idea so that's what we decided to do. Christina's writing everything we decide down to hand in to Max for the 'Max stamp of approval' as she called it.

"Then we have the fights," Tobias speaks up this time, "we need 3 days for the fighting itself and one day in between each so the fights will take 5 days. What about we spend 2 days showing the techniques and for tutoring?" I think this is a good idea. Things have changed from last year, Eric's influence dissolved from the rules. Techniques and skills will have less time to be improved and practiced but if the initiates are suitable for this faction it shouldn't be an issue.

"For the next stage, how do we want to do this? Do we have a day in between each simulation or just straight onto the next one?" I ask and Christina answers.

"I think we should mix the groups - Dauntless Born and Transfers - and send them through their simulation in order of ranking, first to last. But we do the first half of initiates every first day and the second half of initiates every second day?" She finishes her suggestion and I'm actually really happy with our schedule so far.

"The initiates go through three simulations before the final stage so that's what six days? With one day to separate the fights and fear simulations that's a week? That means that our jobs will be completed within 18 days!" Uriah, obviously proud of his mathematic skills, smiles.

"Going through the fear landscape is up to Max and the other leaders so that will not be our decision. We tell them what day we are finished with the initiates and they do the rest." Tobias fills us in and I squeeze his hand knowing that he will be apart of that meeting too, the others don't know yet though.

"What time will training start and finish?" I ask the others.

Tobias says, "start at 8:00am and finish whenever we are done with them. They can have an hour for lunch but straight back to training." Everyone agrees and Christina writes this down too.

"What about punishments?" She asks and shudders at the thought of having to hang over the chasm.

For the next half hour, we make a mental note of punishments we could use on the initiates for disobeying, being smart mouths, being late or just being plain out annoying. I smile at the thought of some of the things we came up with and I'm more excited than ever to start training!


	7. Seven becomes six

**tHiS cHaPtEr KiNd Of SwItChEs BeTwEeN tRiS' pOv AnD tObIaS' pOv. LeT mE KnOw WhAt YoU tHiNk Of It**

Tris' POV

That night, Tobias and I walked back to our apartment hand in hand. As he was unlocking the door he kept looking towards me smiling ever so slightly.

"What?" I asked, curiosity finally getting the better of me.

"You're beautiful, you know that?"

"No, no I didn't," he leans in for a kiss but I slide past him into the apartment. I laugh as he follows me in, kicking the door shut behind him. I feel his hands grasp my waist as he pulls me towards him and I laugh some more. He kisses down the side of my neck and I push him back onto the bed. I press my lips against his and slide up his shirt.

"Tris." He pulls back so I do too. "Are you sure?"

I nod my head and press my lips back against his.

The next morning, Tobias and I walk hand in hand to breakfast. Neither of us wants to let go of the other, so we don't. Before I can sit down at our usual table, Christina starts talking.

"Tris, Six or Seven?" She's asking me how many fears I have; she wants to know if I am still a virgin. She's asked everyday since shopping but today is the first day I'm obliged to say -

"Six."

"Oh my god oh my god oh my god," Christina grabs my arm and pulls me around her side of the table, tearing me away from Tobias. He sits down without me as I go and sit next to Christina. I look back at him for a second before sitting down and notice Zeke holding his hand out waiting for Tobias to hi-5 him. He does but I can tell he doesn't feel comfortable and neither do I.

"Ok so I want details! When? Where? What? How was it? You ok? - " Christina asked dozens of questions but I'm not going to give her details. I really don't want to talk about it so I say just enough to satisfy her need.

"Last night, our apartment, I'm fine," and I think she realised I didn't want to talk about it because she just nudged me and said 'go Tris!' and returned to eating her muffins.

"Can we change the topic from mine and Tris' sex life please?" Tobias. Thank you.

"Sure, oh hey Four, why aren't you working in the control room anymore? I went in to get you for lunch and the guys said they haven't seen you for days?" Zeke asks. It's time for Tobias to tell the others.

"I got a new job," Tobias starts, "You are all speaking to the newest Dauntless Leader." I think he looks proud although it could just be a smile.

Our group tells Tobias he did a good job and for good luck and eventually, Marlene realises something - "Who are you replacing?" Christina explains to her everything that happened with Eric again, watching faces ignite with the realization. It's not long until we all leave to go to work. I head to the offices where I'll help collect intelligence to protect society; whether about other factions or the unknown - outside the fence.

Four's POV

I shake off all the conversations from breakfast and make my way down to my office. My office. I love that, I do. Yesterday, Max gave me a keycard that allows access to everywhere in the compound so I can finally use it. My office is rather plain now and I like it that way. Black walls, black desk, black chairs, black floor. Black. Dauntless. But there are a few red things here and there - red pillows on the couch, red pens on the desk, red stitching in all the chairs. I made sure to buy a red frame yesterday to put a photo of Tris and I in; wanting it to stand out on my desk just like she stands out in my life.

"I see you've settled in ok?" Max is here.

"Yes thank you, Max."

"We are having a meeting in 10 minutes to organise the initiates fear landscapes, Meeting Room 1."

Max shows me to Meeting Room 1, even though I already knew where it was. The first three meeting rooms have cameras in them, so I know exactly where they are. Max must have forgot I worked in the Control Room.

The meeting went for almost an hour as I ran the other leaders through what the trainers had decided the schedule was and then we chose dates for fear landscapes. We decided we would give them a one-day break in between simulations and fear landscapes. The landscapes would run on the 20th and 21st days. Initiation over in three weeks. Good.

I spent the rest of the day going through files and organising my computer before leaving to go see Tris.

Tris' POV

"Hey Four!" I call out to Tobias, dragging Christina towards him. I let go of her arm and place my hands on the back of his neck as he delicately places his lips to mine. Christina coughs and we break away.

"Everything's set for initiation. The leaders and I have approved it and decided to go through the fear landscapes on the 20th and 21st days of initiation."

"Ok great!" Christina and I both say.

"HEY FOUR, LADIES," Zeke. Of course. "PARTY AT MY PLACE IN 20 MINUTES HURRY UP!" He calls over the rush of the chasm.

"Well I'm going to go get ready!" Christina says but before she leaves whispers in my ear, "wear one of the cute bras I got you!"

"Christina got you more cute bras!" Obviously not quiet enough Christina. Tobias smirks at me and I know he's joking.

I push his arm, "none that you'd want to see!"

"Oh, I want to see them all!" And with that we kiss again.

After staying there for a moment I break away, "we have to get ready."

"Mmh kay" Tobias whines like a toddler so I take his hand and we return to our apartment to get ready for Zeke's party.


	8. Candor or Dauntless?

**tHaNk YoU fOuR tHe SuPpOrT gUyS! iT mEaNs So MuCh To Me!**

Tris' POV

I decided to wear a black tank top, tucked into a pair of black high-waisted shorts. Of course, underneath I wore a the bra and panties Christina forced me to buy.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" Tobias asked me before we left the apartment and I just laughed. The one line he always says that makes me roll my eyes and smile at the same time. Normally, only Uri can do that.

Zeke's apartment is only a 2-minute walk from ours so we were there in no time. I'm surprised Zeke has an apartment with the amount of time he normally spends in ours; not lately though, with preparation for initiation.

The door was already open so we walked straight in and Tobias made sure to close it behind us. Our whole group was here sitting on the floor in the middle of Zeke's apartment: Christina, Marlene, Shauna, Will, Uriah and Zeke himself. Tobias and I take a seat in between Zeke and Uriah.

"Hello all," Zeke welcomed us, "This my friends, is the pre-initiation party!" Half of our group cheered for Zeke as he bowed and the rest of us just laughed, like I did. "The initiates arrive tomorrow so it's a good excuse for a party!"

Uriah calls out from next to us, "to you, anything's an excuse for a party."

Zeke ignores the comment with a roll of his eyes, "let's get this party started!"

"Candor or Dauntless?" Will asks and everyone but me nodded.

"What's that?" I ask, slightly worried. Everyone in the group turns to me.

"You've never played Candor or Dauntless?" Marlene asked and before I could answer, Tobias does.

"Abnegation." The rest of the group nods as if it should answer everything.

"Ok so Candor or Dauntless is a game played by all the factions, except Abnegation of course – sorry - where you get asked the question, Candor or Dauntless? If you choose Candor you have to answer the question asked truthfully, if you choose Dauntless you have to do a task chosen by the person who chose you."

"Ok I think I get it," I honestly think I do get it. It can't be that hard, right? But then I think 'why did I have to wear a nice bra?' So I just look at Christina and she understands what I'm saying because she says -

"If you don't want to answer or do the task you have to take off a piece of clothing," she winked at me.

"Ok everyone take your shoes and socks off," Shauna says already taking off her shoes.

We all throw our shoes to the side and get ready to start the game.

"I'm starting!" Zeke calls out and looks around the room, "Four."

Tobias mutters a complaint in my ear but I didn't hear what it was.

"Candor or Dauntless my friend?"

"Candor."

"For those that don't know, what faction did you transfer from?"

With a roll of his eyes, Tobias whispers so quietly that even I can barely hear it. "Abnegation."

"What was that Four?" Zeke heard it too because he's on the other side of Tobias, but he wants him to say it out loud.

" Abnegation," Tobias says it in a normal voice this time, stern and confident. Christina and Will are shocked more than the rest. They didn't know that, unlike the Dauntless-Borns and I.

"Will, Candor or Dauntless?"

"Dauntless."

"Go outside and ask the first girl you see to marry you."

"Oh this will be funny - I'm going!" Uriah calls as he leads Will out of the room.

When they walk back in, Will is holding his jaw.

"What happened?!" Christina asks the minute she sees him. She told me she likes him but she lost that aspect of Candor so she hasn't told him. They're more than friends, but not by much.

"The first girl I saw... was actually a guy!" Will manages to say and the rest of us burst out laughing. We eventually calm down and Will picks Marlene.

"Marlene! You know the question!"

"Candor!"

"PANSYCAKE!" Uriah screams.

''Shut up Uri!" Zeke throws a pillow at his brother to silence him.

Will continues, "who was your first kiss?"

Marlene's eyes flicker to Uriah before she answers, "it was Jarod..."

"Wait like, transferred to Amity Jarod?" Zeke clarifies and Marlene nods before Zeke, Uriah and Shauna burst out laughing. They must know who he is.

I lean over to Tobias who even smiles trying to hold back laughter, "what's wrong with Jarod?"

"Jarod was born for amity – always acting like an Amity instead of a Dauntlesss."

Marlene continues the game, "Ok Zeke! Candor or -"

"Dauntless!"

"Ok you have to accept a makeover from Christina!"

Christina cheers but Zeke takes off his shirt and she stops. Wow. Zeke has abs.

"Let's see," Zeke's eyes wonder around the room and land on me, "ah Trissyboo!"

I glare at him. I hate that name. He knows it.

"Dauntless, I'm not afraid of you Zekeybear!" And after I said that, I regretted it because Tobias squeezed my hand and held on tighter.

"I dare you to sit on Fours lap for the rest of the game," that's easier than I was expecting.

"Mkay." I slide on top of Four.

"And!"

"Here it comes," Tobias mumbles but I ignore it.

"Every time somebody chooses Candor, you have to whisper dirty things in his ear." Zeke smiles proudly. Ok this was better than I thought but I can't back out so I accept.

"Ummmmm Shauna."

"Candor!" Shauna smirks playing along with Zeke.

"Oh I see how it is!" I laugh to Shauna before turning my head to Tobias and whispering so quietly, "imagine the things we could be doing if we were by ourselves right now." I finish it off by moving my hand to the inside of his thigh underneath where I'm sitting and hope nobody would notice. Tobias is at a loss for words through shock and contemplation of my statement. His composure lacks for a moment before returning back to the game.

"Ahem." Uriah clears his throat and I look back to Shauna.

"Who is your crush?"

Shauna goes a pinkish red before saying to us, "Zeke." She looks around the room and says to Christina, "Candor or Dauntless?"

To my luck, she says, "Dauntless! I left Candor!"

"You have to drink 20 shots of hot sauce!"

Christina says nothing but takes off her shirt. Zeke and Uriah look over at her but not for long, Tobias' gaze doesn't fault, but Will, he stares at her shirtless body and I don't think she noticed. Either that, or she didn't mind.

"Uriah, Candor or Dauntless?"

"Dauntless - I'm not a pansycake!"

"We'll see about that," Christina smirks and now I know what she's going to say... It's the same smirk she gives me before she says, "you have to let me do your makeup!" She then adds, "Or you're a pansy cake!" Knowing Uriah can't refuse.


	9. Candor or Dauntless? Continued!

**tHe GaMe CoNtInUeS!**

"Uh yeah sure ok!" Uriah agreed to Christina's makeover. Uh oh.

"Perfect!" She smirks and drags Uriah out of Zeke's apartment, presumably to hers. While they are out of the room, Zeke's slides close to Tobias and I, and whispers to him. I'm still on Tobias' lap so of course, I overhear and I don't even know if Zeke minds.

"Hey Four, remember what I told you at the shooting range?" What did Zeke tell Tobias?

"About Shauna?" Tobias' voice is so quiet I strain to hear it. What's up with Shauna?

"Yeah uh haha... Pair us up for something, would ya?" Of course. Zeke likes Shauna! And Shauna likes Zeke!

"Course mate," Tobias smiles and I turn to face him. Zeke looks to me and winks, obviously knowing I heard. I guess it doesn't really matter though. I twist my head so I'm directly facing Tobias and I place my lips against his. That's when Christina came in the room announcing Uriah's arrival. I can't wait to see this.

Uriah walked in, dark blue eye shadow with thick eye liner, blood red lipstick and rosy pink cheeks. You've done it this time Christina! All of our group laughs hysterically as Uriah bows and sits down. I'm suddenly wondering if he is blushing or if it's the makeup. After we finally calm ourselves down, we go back to the game.

"Ok uhhhhh Marlene!"

"Dauntless!"

"You have to go to the pit and run around screaming 'Why can't I fly anymore?!'"

"I'm going with her. I want to see this!" I laugh and Marlene and I leave the room. Sure enough, when we arrive at the pit, Marlene starts sprinting around waving her arms in a flapping motion screaming, "why can't I fly anymore?!" and, "I could fly yesterday!" It was very funny and some of the looks she got…

We returned to the room laughing and when I told the others what happened they all started laughing too.

"Christina, Candor or Dauntless?"

"Candor."

Everyone but Zeke seemed to have forgotten my Dauntless from Zeke because the others are focused on Christina but Zeke just smirks to me and Tobias, one eye brow raised. I roll my eyes to him and turn to Tobias.

"Yes Tris?" Tobias has forgotten about my Dauntless too.

I try my hardest for a seductive voice as I whisper to him, loud enough for Zeke to hear, "a few weeks ago, I watched a white horse role in mud. It was dirty." When I return my attention to Christina I notice Zeke laughing in my peripheral vision.

"Tris?"

"Huh? sorry!" Oops I obviously wasn't paying as much attention as I thought...

"Candor or Dauntless?"

"Dauntless," I say to Christina and look back at Zeke, "I'm stopping that whole Candor thing now too." Luckily, Zeke doesn't argue as I slide off Tobias' lap and Christina just continues.

"You have to play seven minutes in heaven with Four!" She says smugly but it doesn't sound that bad?

"What's seven minutes in heaven?" I ask and hear Uriah say something about Abnegation.

Marlene laughs a little before saying, "it's when two people go into a closet and make-out."

"They don't have to make out," Tobias adds.

"But that's the idea, and it usually ends up happening," Shauna points out looking at Tobias.

I look to Tobias, "would you do it? If it was your Dauntless I mean, would you do it?"

"Only if it was with you." So I get up and grab Tobias' hand. He leads me into the corner of Zeke's apartment and into his closet. "We don't have to do anything Tri-"

My lips have already touched his and after a second to recover he kisses me back. He places his hand on the small of my back pulling me closer to him and I run my hands through his hair.

What feels like mere seconds I hear Will call out, "3 more minutes!"

Tobias pulls back placing his lips to my next and kisses from my collarbone to just underneath my ear. A slight moan escapes my lips and I hope it wasn't that loud. I hear the group counting down from 10, as Tobias looks me in the eye and whispers, "you're beautiful, you know that?" And then the door bursts open with Zeke and Marlene trying to analyze us, seeing if they could tell if we had just made out. I'm sure that my hair would be in knots and my lips would be puffy. I know that my singlet is half pulled out of my shorts but the only thing I was thinking was how much I'm in love with Tobias. We walk out of the closet and the group giggles but quickly enough it's straight back to the game.

"Shauna, candor or dauntless?" I ask her, hoping so badly she would choose Dauntless, luckily she does. "You have to lick whip cream off of Zeke's abs."

To my surprise Shauna just leaves to find whipped cream and Zeke looks quite happy with me. Shauna chooses Will and he says Dauntless. "You have run through the pit screaming out your crushes name!" Shauna says smugly but Will takes off his shirt.

"Uriah, Cand-"

"Daaaaaauntleeeeeess" Uriah sings and it's hard to take him seriously with a face full of makeup.

"You have to go up to a Dauntless Leader and ask them if you can become a cross dresser." Will has obviously forgotten Tobias' new job as Uriah stands up and walks over to us.

Before he can say anything Tobias says, "Will, which Dauntless Leader?"

Will thinks and remembers suddenly as he says a name of one of the Dauntless Leaders I don't have much to do with. Uriah sits back down and takes off his shirt.

"Four, Candor or Dauntless?"

"Candor."

"What's your name?" Before Uriah finishes the question, Tobias has already started pulling of his shirt and I sit in awe. Out of all the boys, Tobias undoubtedly has the best body.

I hear Uriah whine but Tobias ignores it as he turns to Zeke and says, "Candor or Dauntless?"

"Dauntless," Zeke says to Tobias and I know Shauna will be dragged into this one.

"You have to play seven minutes in heaven with Shauna," Zeke looks to Shauna as they both stand up. At the end of their seven minutes they look as bad as I'm sure Tobias and I did.

Zeke continued with the game going straight back to Tobias, "alright Four, Candor or Dauntless?"

"Dauntless."

"Ok Four, you have to take Tris into the chasm and declare your love for her!" Zeke smirked.

Tobias just got straight up and held my hand. The rest of our group followed us out into the chasm and Tobias and I stood in the centre. Then, all of a sudden I was swept up in Tobias' arms as he was yelling out how much he loved me. It was sweet but odd and very unlike Tobias.

We returned to the group in the chasm and Christina spoke first, "oh gosh, it's really late! I have to go sorry. Otherwise I will never be up in time for the choosing ceremony!"

"We better go to?" I ask Tobias and he nods. Soon enough, our whole group is back at Zeke's apartment getting redressed and going home.

I curl up in bed next to Tobias as he turns off the light.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" He whispers gently to me.

"You're perfect, do you know that?" I hear him laugh a little bit as he holds me tighter.

"Night Tris, I love you"


	10. Choosing Ceremony

**tHaNk YoU gUyS fOr ThE rEvIeWs! I wIlL uSe AlL sUgGeStIoNs ThAt FiT wItH tHe StOrY sO lEt Me KnOw YoUr IdEaS**

*beep beep beep*

*beep beep beep*

"Ugh," I roll over and slam my palm down on my alarm clock, "Tobias!" I drag myself out of bed and into the washroom. The Choosing Ceremony is today - time to train the initiates. I wear a black peplum shirt with short sleeves and dark grey skinny jeans. I brush my hair out so it's parted in the centre and drapes over my shoulders. I apply eyeliner and mascara and when I walk out of the washroom Tobias is already changed. He wears a black cotton shirt and dark jeans, basically the same as always.

"Morning Tris," Tobias pulls me into a hug.

"Morning Tobias," I say into his shirt.

"We gotta head off now, you sure you want to come? You can stay with Christina if you want?" Because Tobias is a Dauntless Leader, he has to go to the Choosing Ceremony and I'm going with him so he has support if Marcus sees him.

"No it's fine, I'm happy to go!" I smile at him. We walk down to the dining hall and say goodbye to our group. We each grab a muffin and head for the trains with a large crowd of other Dauntless. Tobias gets on the train first with ease and helps me on by taking my hand as the train reaches me. Getting onto a moving train has become a way of life for me now so I too do it with ease. The Ceremony is held in Amity this year, which means that Johanna Reyes will be conducting it. The train ride to Amity went by quite quickly. Either that or it was just because I was curled up next to Tobias. We hardly spoke the whole way there and neither did the rest of the people in the train car with us. I guess they were all wondering who would return and who wouldn't.

"We're here." A Dauntless man, I think named David, called out and everyone in our cart walked to the end. The Amity complex is filled with bright reds and yellows as well as other earthy colours like greens. A dramatic contrast to the Dauntless black. It's time to jump and Dauntless fill the air leaving the train. I feel Tobias grab my hand and when there is nobody else on the train, we jump. We fly through the air and land running a few steps before recovering. Before I can even gather my thoughts the Dauntless run and Tobias is pulling me along, blending in with the rest of the crowd. I scream out a cheer with the faction around me and feel the wind blow my hair back, feet thundering against the ground.

We eventually take our seats and I remember this time last year; the cocktail of thoughts mixing through my mind. Sometimes I wonder what life would have been like if I chose Abnegation but I know it would not have been as good as Dauntless.

I feel a hand grab my arm tightly and look to see Tobias slowly going pale. Marcus.

"Hey, it's ok? He can't hurt you now! He wouldn't do anything in front of all of these people ok?" He just nods so I take his hand tightly and don't let go.

During Johanna's speech I tune out and search the Abnegation section for my parents. I can't find them, maybe they didn't come this year. Each initiate cuts their palms and holds it over the faction bowl of their choice. My thumb subconsciously rubs the faint scar in my hand where I cut too deep. An upset occurred when an Abnegation transferred to Erudite and I think about Caleb. I do miss Caleb...

I noticed our transfer factions but haven't remembered names yet:

5 Candor transfers

3 Erudite transfers

2 Amity transfers

No Abnegation transfers, but I wasn't expecting there to be any.

I think we ended up with about 10 Dauntless-Born initiates but I didn't take much notice to them.

Straight after the ceremony, Dauntless took off. We flew down the stairs in a massive pack. I couldn't help but take a peak at some of the initiates' faces. I noticed an Erudite boy looking ecstatic and an Amity girl looking shocked, maybe even scared. But we kept running. This year, there wasn't a burn in my legs or an ache in my heart. This year, there was a hand in mine and an overwhelming desire to go home. To go to Dauntless.

I climb up the closest free post with Tobias following closely behind. A Candor initiate stares up at us in awe and I smirk to myself. The two of us hit the platform first before all Dauntless, most of the others joking around as they hang from the poles. I feel the familiar rumble in my toes and hear the distant screech of rails. By now, the Dauntless have gathered next to us on the platform.

Tobias shouts, loud enough for all our faction to hear, "get ready." We begin to run again. The train reaches us and Dauntless pack onto each car. I leap onto the train with ease and watch as the initiates jump on the train. Both Amity transfers jumped in easily. They've done this before; they've been practicing. Next, an Erudite and a Candor transfer jumped on, the Amity transfers pulling them in. I notice the rest of the Erudite made it onto the train and so did three of the Candor. But one Candor couldn't do it. A short, pudgy boy with black hair. He didn't even try. He would have failed Dauntless initiation anyway. He is now faction-less.


	11. First Jumpers!

**tImE tO mEeT oUr FiRsT iNiTiAtEs…**

The train ride home is the same as the train ride there. This time however, a mother in our section is crying, her child must have left her like many other sixteen year olds just did. Like Caleb did this time last year. Like I did. Did my mum cry? I push away the though as I picture my mother's brave face. She wouldn't have cried.

We arrive at the Dauntless compound, the trip home seemed to take longer. As soon as the building comes into view Tobias and I get ready to jump. We need to be at the net by the time the initiates are ready to enter.

"Ready?" Tobias asks eyes glued to our landing space.

"Ready." We jump in perfect sync. We hit the ground running and don't stop until we reach the base of the net. I noticed the Dauntless jumping off the train after us and knew that soon enough, the initiates would be jumping too.

"They're here!" I call out as we reach the base of the net.

"Hey! Tris! Four!" Uriah calls to us smiling as we catch our breath.

"Alright everyone! They're here! Everyone silent so we know when they're jumping!" Christina shouts and slowly everyone quiets down. A quiet Dauntless crowd. Wow.

Tobias and I push past everyone so we are standing at the edge of the net. I tell Christina the amount of people from each faction and she seemed proud there were more people from Candor. I wasn't expecting anyone from Abnegation.

"Hey guys, look!" Uriah whispers and I see what he's calling us for. Max's silhouette walks back and forth across the edge of the building. He stops dead in his tracks and faces the initiates.

"This is it," Tobias says keeping his eyes locked on Max, "he's telling them they need to jump now."

He was right. In a matter of seconds, two figures appear on the edge of the building as Max moves to the side. The two figures, black silhouettes link hands and a second later, they are flying through the sky. To them, I know it feels as if they were in the sky for days but they were only in the air for seconds before they hit the net with an 'oomf'. They let go of each other's hand sometime between jumping and landing and now I'm reaching my hand out for theirs among dozens of other members. One hand grabs mine and I notice another takes hold of Uriah's and we help them onto the floor. They are the Amity transfers!

The transfer I pulled down is a tall boy, blonde wavy hair with brown eyes and tanned skin. Uriah helped down a girl, taller than me but shorter than the first boy. She had the same golden blonde hair and the same brown eyes. Her skin matched the tone of the boys and they had an identical round face. That's when it hit me.

"Twins?" I ask receiving a nod from both of them.

"Names?" Tobias asks. Christina and Uriah head back to the net to get ready for the next jumper.

"Think about it, you don't get to choose again." I say to the initiates remembering they were the exact words Tobias said to me after I had jumped.

"I'm Alex," the boy said and then indicated to his sister, "and this is Asta."

Tobias looks into my eyes and at the exact same time we call out, "first jumpers - Alex and Asta!" The Dauntless erupt in cheers and I glance behind me to see a flash of blue land on the net as Christina leans forward to help the person off.

"You've thought about this a lot haven't you?" I ask and they both nod.

"Alex means to defend and protect, and Asta means star," Asta explains.

"They are to remind us of why we chose Dauntless!" Alex speaks then looks to Asta.

"We want to defend, protect and shine!"


	12. The Tour

**tHaNkS fOr ReAdInG 4 iLy**

Tobias and I stood back watching the rest of the Dauntless-born initiates finish jumping. All the initiates made it off the train. The transfers, in order of who jumped first, went like this:

=1 - Alex - Male - Amity

=1 - Asta - Female - Amity

3 - Jet - Male - Erudite

4 - Luke - Male - Candor

5 - Jacob - Male - Candor

6 - Laura - Female -Erudite

7 - Kiara - Female - Candor

8 - Sasha - Female - Candor

9 - Blake - Male - Erudite

There ended up being twelve Dauntless-Borns which means that over half of the initiates will need to be cut in order to meet the cutoff of 10. Not good.

"They're helping the last one off the net now!" Uriah runs over to me and I watch the initiate be pulled off.

Christina and Tobias walk over to us as the crowd of Dauntless members leave. "We're not dating by the way guys, not to the initiates," I say quietly as they begin to gather around us, detecting our superiority.

"Meet Six," Tobias nods to me and I smile, brushing a loose strand of hair behind my ear. He turns around facing the initiates and calls out, only just loud enough to hear, "everyone shut up or get the hell out of Dauntless."

As he turns back to face us I finish our conversation, "we thought it sounded cute."

"It does sound cute," he mumbles as he turns back around. I can't help but smile and Christina pinches my arm, also smiling.

"Time to start." Tobias smiles to us quickly then returns to his stern expression. I can see 'instructor Four' coming out. Tobias paces before the initiates as their eyes glue to him. I stand taller and notice Christina and Uriah doing the same, looking fierce from the corner of my eye. "I'm Four, this is Six, Christina and Uriah. We're your instructors." He indicates to each of us separately.

"Wait, like, four and six? As in the numbers?" A Candor girl standing to the edge of the initiates steps forward and cocks her hip. I know her name's Kiara. "Who took number five?" A Dauntless-Born next to me snickers and I glare immediately at him. He composes himself and returns to watching. At least someone thought better than to say something.

Before Tobias or I even moved towards Kiara, Christina was standing directly in front of her, close enough to breathe the same air.

"What was that, Candor?" She shouts directly at Kiara.

"I was - I just... I..." Kiara was trying to find the right words, stuttering stupidly in the process. At least Christina didn't do that last year.

"Zip it!" Christina snaps, "if we wanted to put up with Candor bloody smart mouths, don't you think we would have joined that faction? Did I join that faction?!" I'm proud of her. She's using the same lines Tobias used last year, but they still sound threatening. "No! So listen to Four, shut the hell up and do as we say."

Christina walks back in line and winks to Tobias when her back is facing the initiates. "I could get used to this."

"So as Four was saying-" I continue with the introduction now, "Christina and Uriah will be taking the Dauntless-Borns and Four and I will be taking the transfers!"

Uriah chimes in after that, "Dauntless-Born, follow us! We hope you don't need a tour of the place!"

He and Christina begin walking off with initiates lagging behind. Christina notices and after whispering with Uriah she yells, "hurry up Dauntless-Borns. You better start proving you have what it takes because so far I'm not impressed!"

They speed up after this. Tobias and I wait until the Dauntless-Borns are out of view before starting the tour.

"First you will be seeing the pit, it's the heart of the Dauntless Compound." I start as we lead them through the compound. The transfers' faces are in awe as we guide them through it. We walk into the Chasm and I let Tobias speak for this one.

"This is the chasm," he starts as the initiates take it all in, "it reminds us of the fine line between bravery and idiocy. Jump off this ledge and you're gone. It's happened before and yes, it will happen again." My mind flicks to Al; his constant scent of lemongrass, his honesty, the attack, his apology, his body being dragged up after he jumped. I disregard the thoughts whirring through my mind and focus on initiation.

At the end of the tour, we guide the initiates into the Dining Hall and the Dauntless members scream, shout and holler. Feet are stamping and hands are slamming on tables. I look back to the initiates and see the look of awe in their eyes. It's a look that I'm sure would reflect my face the day I transferred here. We sit down by our usual table and the four of us tell the rest of our group everything that happened with the initiates. None of the initiates sit at our table, which is good. I can't really talk about them if they can hear me. When Max appears above us to give an introductory speech we slip out of the Dining Hall and relax by the chasm.

After lunch, when everyone leaves the Dining Hall, Christina and Uriah show the initiates, both Dauntless-Borns and Transfers to their dormitories. We teach them to shoot tomorrow – that will be interesting…


	13. Let the Training Begin

**tHaNk YoU sO mUcH fOr ThE sUpPoRt! I'm UpDaTiNg As QuIcKlY aS i CaN**

I wake up at 7am again this morning and get ready, just like usual. I'm wearing my standard Dauntless jacket and black, full-length tights. By the time I'm ready to leave, Tobias is waiting for me, ready to go with two muffins in hand.

"Good morning Tris," Tobias kisses my forehead and hands me a muffin.

"Good morning Tobias," I smile and take the first bite of my muffin.

We walk down to the training room and Tobias sets up the guns. This year we decided we would keep our relationship a secret and see how long it took for the initiates to find out. After Tobias lays out all of the guns he walks over to me and places his hands on my waist.

"I don't know how long I'm going to be able to last without kissing you Tris." He leans down and places his lips to mine. I get lost for a moment and then realise the time.

"They are going to be here soon," I mumble into Tobias' lips and he breaks away.

"Fine," he mumbles and then checks the time. "Not soon enough though it's 5 past 8!"

We grin at each other before sprinting back to our apartments. We left two paintball guns right in front of our door because Tobias said they are never on time the first day. Turns out he's right.

We stand just outside the dormitories and I look at Tobias. "3... 2... 1... Now!" I whisper and we burst through the doors making sure to fire at every single person. Instructor faces and voices on.

"YOU WERE LATE!" I scream at the initiates as I fire another round at one of them, not even bothering to look who it was.

"EVERYONE UP!" Tobias screams and everyone rises, covered in paint. "WHY WERE YOU LATE!"

Nobody answered so I shot another person right in the chest. This is fun! I walk directly up to Jacob so I'm in line with his face and scream, "FOUR ASKED WHY YOU WERE LATE!"

"We didn't have an alarm to wake up by!" He blurts out quickly. Scared. Good.

"AND HOW IS THAT OUR PROBLEM?!" Tobias is directly in front of Sasha.

"It isn't!" She replies.

"FIX IT AND DO NOT BE LATE AGAIN!" We scream at them in perfect timing, perfect sync with each other.

"BE IN THE TRAINING ROOMS WITHIN FIVE MINUTES OR DON'T EXPECT TO STAY!" Tobias warns them and nobody moves.

"WELL? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR! MOVE IT!" I yell firing another shot before we run back to the training room laughing.

4 minutes goes by and still, no initiates have arrived. I'm beginning to think that we might only have Dauntless-Borns to train by tomorrow. But then Kiara, Sasha and Laura appeared in the doorway of the training room. A few seconds later so did Luke and Jet. 30 seconds left. Blake and Jacob. Two people left with only ten seconds to get here. Just when I thought we would lose our first jumpers, Alex and Asta walk into the training room. Two seconds to spare.

Tobias speaks, "Make a repeat of what happened this morning, there will be more severe punishments understood?" The transfers merely nod. "Is that understood!" I love Instructor Four. The initiates call out their affirmation and he seems satisfied.

"Today you will be learning how to use a gun," I begin walking back and forth in front of the initiates. "If anybody points a gun at someone else, Four or I will shoot you. If anybody is acting like an idiot with a gun in hand, or without, we will shoot you. Using a gun is very important when defending yourself and is a major part of living in Dauntless. Pass initiation and you'll probably find yourself on the frontline; defending the fence or stopping fights between the factionless. You will need to know how to use a gun so it's about time you meet your new best friend." I explain everything the initiates will need to know about guns demonstrating the necessary stance and how to use one correctly. We walk back and forth monitoring the initiates as they shoot.

I notice that Jet, Jacob and Laura have all hit centre and that Blake and Kiara haven't even hit the target yet. Alex and Asta however, have hit the target near centre every single time. I look at Tobias and flick my head as if to say 'come over here.' We stand there for a moment watching them and not once do they miss. Eventually, all of the initiates are watching and when Asta realises, she taps her brother's shoulder. They both place their guns down and turn to face us.

"Yes?" Asta says looking nervous.

"Come with me," Tobias states simply walking out of the training room. The twins look at each other and follow.

"What are you all doing? Go shoot!"

As I make my way past her, Laura asks me, "what's Four doing with them?"

"What makes you think I'm going to tell you that?" My eyes narrow as I snap at her and before I can feel guilty I walk off saying to her, "stop closing your eyes when you shoot, your aim sucks Laura."

I notice Blake has hit his target in the centre and so I go over to Kiara.

"When you shoot, compensate for more recoil. Try to aim slightly higher and relax your shoulders more." I instruct her, judging her target.

She nods and sure enough, she hits dead centre. I walk back and forth showing the initiates how to shoot more accurately. They all hit centre after following my advice, they aren't perfect, but they are better than before. I roll my eyes at the few that don't listen after I've walked away. They clearly don't understand how hard initiation is.

Tobias walks back in the room with Alex and Asta in tow. "You have one hour for lunch, don't be late!" Tobias turns back to the twins. "Not you two. Wait there."

We walk to the other side of the training room so that they can't hear what we say. "They are too good, right?" I ask Tobias and he nods.

"Way too good. They're Amity!"

"But how?" I honestly don't know how.

"Asta sweet talked a guard into stealing her two guns. Because she was an Amity, they didn't think twice about it. Alex said the two would go into the fields and practice shooting. They've also practiced knife throwing and some hand to hand combat. Nobody in Amity would teach them any moves though so they said they aren't experts in that area," Tobias informs me.

"They've also practice getting on and off trains, they did that way too easily as well," I tell him and he nods again.

"Asta said there's a train that runs straight by the Amity complex, the same one we took to the Choosing Ceremony. They practiced getting on and off of it."

"They're good," I whisper as we return back to Asta and Alex who look worried.

"We didn't do anything wrong or illegal!" Asta blurts out.

"We just wanted to practice for initiation!" Alex adds to clarify.

"How were you so sure we did gun training?" I ask either of them.

"Oh p-leaaaaase!" Asta says than blurts out, "sorry! I mean well it's Dauntless! It wasn't exactly a secret..."

"Knives?" I ask.

"Educated guess," Alex smirks.

"Fights?"

"Good skill to have whether it's included or not."

"You can't prepare for stages 2 and 3 so don't bother trying," Tobias adds in his 'instructor four' voice. He opens the door for the twins indicating that they should leave.

"What happens in those stages?" Asta asks and I laugh.

"Do you actually think we're going to say that to two transfers? Go to lunch, Amity." The words sound blunt but I can tell I'm going to like these two. Alex smiles to me before he leaves and I smile back ever so slightly. I turn to Tobias, "well Four, what are we going to do while the initiates are gone?"

"I think we can find something to do?" Before I can register it, he pulls me into his arms and his lips press against mind.

"Oh Alex! I forgot my jacket – I'll meet you in the dining hall!" Before we can pull away Asta is at the door to the Training Room, mouth open staring with wide eyes at her instructors.

"Yes Asta?" Tobias pulls away immediately and I can feel my cheeks slowly going red.

"I uh I um I'm I uh just needed to uh," poor girl. She runs forward and grabs her jacket before leaving.

"Asta!" I call out to her and she turns around.

"Yes?" She answers sweetly - innocently.

"Don't tell anyone else yet? Ok? We want to see how long until they all figure it out!" I wink at her and she starts to leave again. I go to press my lips back against Tobias' before I hear her call out.

"Oh, Four and Six?"

"Yes Asta?" Tobias groans looking across to her with an eye roll.

"I have to tell Alex. He will know I'm not telling him something, he always does. But we won't tell anyone else - I promise! We have nobody we would want to tell." And before she gets a reply, she's gone and I look back at Tobias. We both laugh and walk hand in hand to the dining hall.


	14. First to be Factionless

**fOuR wIlL lOvE yOu If YoU fAvOuRiTe ThE sToRy RiGhT… nOw!**

The rest of the day went by quickly.

Our group was shocked about Alex and Asta but I was just impressed. Christina and Uriah said that the Dauntless-Borns were cocky but that they were having fun snapping them into place. We told each other everything that happened in the first day of training but Tobias and I both left out the part where we made out and Asta walked. Mainly because Laura, Kiara and Sasha were sitting at the end of our table and they still don't know about Tobias and I but also because we'd rather not talk about it.

After lunch, we helped the initiates improve their aim and so far, I'm thinking that Alex has better aim than Asta although it's close so I could be wrong. Jet and Laura are also going well, followed by Sasha, Jacob, Luke and Kiara. Blake will be out by the end of round one if he doesn't improve soon. He isn't listening to what Tobias or I tell him to do so quite honestly, I hope he goes.

Christina, Uriah, Tobias and I decided we were going to cut one person from both groups of initiates after shooting, one from each group after knives, one person from each group after the fights and the five lowest initiates overall after the fear landscapes.

The morning goes by as it did yesterday except this time, the initiates are here on time. Somebody obviously sorted out the alarm problem.

Tobias runs the initiates through what's going to be happening today as far as grading. Each initiate will continue shooting as we mark them a score out of ten; five points from me and five from Tobias.

"What are you waiting for? Go get started!" I smile to the initiates as I finish for Tobias. We both separate so we can watch each initiate on our own.

The first initiate I score is Jet. He loads his gun perfectly, true Erudite, and most of his bullets are grouped near the centre but he doesn't quite have the right stance so I give him four points. Jet did well. I move on to Luke and continue scoring each of the initiates.

By lunchtime, we had finished scoring the transfers and Christina and Uriah finished scoring the Dauntless-Borns. We sat in a circle on the floor of the training room as we added up the scores for each initiate. The transfers went well overall:

Asta - 10

Alex - 10

Sasha - 9

Jet - 8

Luke - 8

Laura - 8

Kiara - 7

Jacob - 7

Blake - 5

Blake will be faction-less.

Tobias and I had a look at the Dauntless-Borns' scores as well but I only recognised a few names.

Jack - 10

Tash - 10

Jaz - 9

Mathew - 9

Ash - 9

Victor - 8

Shane - 8

Emma - 7

Rees - 6

Riley - 6

Greg - 5

Tina - 4

A girl named Tina is out. I don't even know her name.

Tobias and I spent that evening around our apartment just chilling out.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" Tobias says as we enter our apartment and I laugh.

"What movie do you want to watch?" I change the subject, pulling Tobias on the couch as I do.

"Whatever you want." Tobias is always happy if I'm happy, sometimes I wonder if it's part of his old Abnegation self but I get rid of that thought quickly. He loves me and that's why. I put in an old film and curl up on the couch in front of Tobias. He wraps his arms around my side as I snuggle in and we stay there, together, for hours until eventually I fall asleep listening to the steady beat of his heart.


	15. Knives

**hEy iNiTiAtEs WaSsUp! KeEp ReAdInG aNd LeT mE kNoW yOuR tHoUgHtS xX**

The initiates arrive early this morning, probably anxious to see if they have become factionless. Tobias and I almost got caught holding hands but luckily, he pulled away after hearing the initiates down the hall. Ten minutes ago, Tobias set up the knives whilst I wrote the rankings on a chalkboard that now leans against my shins. As the initiates crowd around me, Tobias explains how the points for shooting were scored and after he finishes, I flip the board around so the initiates can see their scores. Asta and Alex hug, as do Kiara and Laura, and Sasha talks with Jet, Jacob and Luke. Nobody talks to Blake. He didn't fit in with the initiates and never really gave an effort. I don't think anybody is upset he's going.

"Blake, you have today to do whatever you would like, but tomorrow, you must leave the Dauntless compound and go to the factionless sector," Tobias speaks to Blake I notice a few initiates listen in. Blake walks straight out of the training room and all the initiates glue their eyes on Tobias and I.

"What are we doing today, Four?" Luke asks Tobias after Blake has left the room.

"Today we're throwing knives." The corner of Four's lips turn up, almost into a smirk.

"Hang on a second, are you actually smiling, Four?" Jet asks jokingly.

Tobias twirls a knife between his fingers, the light shining against it as it spins making the edge look razor sharp. "Careful, Jet."

We both walk over to the targets, the initiates following closely behind. There is apprehension in the way they're following us today. Guns are self-explanatory but knife throwing is more unique.

"As Four said, you're going to be learning how to throw knives," I begin, in a stern voice, as Instructor Six.

"And tomorrow we'll be judging how well you throw these knives," Instructor Four continues.

I pick up a knife and play with the point as I walk towards the initiates with my back to the targets.

"You will be shown the correct techniques, be expected to listen to us, and then hit the target!" Just as I finish, I spin and throw the knife at the target in one, swift motion. It hits dead centre and the initiates' jaws hit the ground.

"Good throw," Tobias looks at the target, sizing up my throw, then back at me nodding.

"I had a good instructor," I smirk and Tobias smiles. It's the smile he saves for me. It's the smile I love.

"Clearly."

"Erhem," Asta clears her throat and I look at her, eyebrows raised but she just looks away, obviously regretting her actions. Eric probably would have thrown her over the chasm for that but Tobias and I just ignore her.

"This is Dauntless! Be brave. Any sign of cowardice and your rankings will go down." Four instructs the initiates and then turns to me raising his eyebrows with a questioning look.

I turn on my heels and walk towards the target, conscious of the eyes burning into my back. I stand in the same position I stood in last year except this time I look Tobias directly in the eye, "ready, Four!"

All the initiates look confused as Tobias picks up two more knives He holds two in his left hand and one in his right, ready to throw.

"Wait you're not seriously going to throw knives at her are you Four?" An initiate, I think Alex asks.

"The odds of you missing and hitting Six are... Very high!" This time it was definitely Laura. Definitely an Erudite transfer.

"Lucky I won't miss," Tobias mumbles but I know what he said. He walks back and forth in front of me, at a suitable throwing distance, ready to launch a knife at any moment.

"You scared, Six?" Tobias says, the same way he did last year except this time, it's to teach the initiates a lesson and not Al and I one.

"With you throwing the knives Four? Never." I can't help but smile and watch as Tobias pulls his right arm back and throws the knife towards me. Everything is in slow motion as I watch the knife go tip over handle straight into the target about 10cm away from my left forearm.

"How about we get closer?" Four turns to the initiates to ask them and nobody answers, their mouths are glued open in awe. Or fright? I don't really know. Probably the latter.

Tobias pulls his arm back again and I realize that I'm not even a tiny bit nervous. I should be, shouldn't I? I'm having knives thrown at me? But I'm not. Instead, I look into Tobias' eyes, a deep blue that sparkles with each tiny movement, as he launches the second knife at me. This one lands about 5cm away from my right elbow. I know that's exactly where he aimed it.

"We can get closer!" I shout out to Four and he winks at me, knowing the initiates were too busy looking at the knives next to my arms.

"Okay then, don't move Six, this one could be fatal!"

I smile at him and shout out, "you better aim right then if you want to sleep with both eyes closed!"

In a flash, Tobias pulls his arm back again, preparing to launch the final knife at the me. I stand completely still, knowing this one would be closer than the others were. I feel a wisp of air brush past my hair and feel the pressure of his knife on the top of my head. Tobias had thrown the knife so it landed in the target just above my head. Perfect shot!

I give the initiates a bow as I resume my place next to Tobias.

"We aren't all going to have to throw knives at Six, right?" Jacob asks and it's obvious he's not an Erudite.

Tobias just laughs, "yeah and leave Six with knives impaled into her torso? I don't think so!" Tobias steps closer to me and I smile.

"Four will show you guys how to throw a knife properly, at an actual target!" I aim the last half at Jacob and indicate for Four to continue. He nods and walks over to grab a knife.

"Ok guys so!" Four begins and I go to the back of the group to sit on a table. I tune out through the demonstration, I've been taught how to throw a knife by Tobias plenty of times by now so I know everything he's telling them. Instead, I lose myself in his eyes and his body and the way he pronounces each letter of every word. I've committed him to my memory just like I'm sure he has committed me to his. I'm so tempted to run up to him and wrap my arms around him to block out the rest of the world but I don't. I stay in my seat and continue looking into his eyes.

After the demonstration, we gave the initiates an early lunch so that we could have the rest of the afternoon to train them for improvement. Neither Tobias nor I was hungry so we sat, leaning against the table I was sitting on earlier, and just talked and made-out. Neither of us is liking the fact they haven't figured out we're dating yet but we still think it's funny so we keep our hands of each other in front of the initiates. In private though, times like now, it just means we spend more time with our lips locked together and my fingers in his hair.

By now, I was straddling Tobias and his hands were pressed against my lower back while mine were wrapped around the back of his neck. Our kisses were hungry, passionate. Neither of us wanting to let go.

"Wait to go, Four!"

I jump off Tobias and onto my feet faster than humanly possible as he quickly tugs down his shirt trying to appear normal.

"Didn't see that coming!" Jet and Luke are standing at the doors of the training room. We knew the initiates would find out but I didn't mean for them to find out like this... By seeing us make-out...

"Four, mate, you might want to get up, the others will be here in, like, two minutes!" Jet says, a smile beaming across his face.

Tobias just nods and stands up as if processing what just happened. I am too.

Soon enough, all the initiates are in the training room and neither of us can speak. We may be Dauntless now, but we were once Abnegation and I know I'm embarrassed Jet and Luke saw that...

"Um, ok, so do you want us to start practicing?" Asta asks and I smile at her knowing she was trying to help.

"Everyone find a target and grab some knives!" Tobias snaps back to earth and the initiates get busy.


	16. It Is On

**hApPy AuStRaLiA dAy My AmAzInG iNiTiAtEs! **

**LiKe ThE fAnFiC? rEcOmMeNd It To SoMeOnE! wAs ThAt SmOoTh? HeHe ILY!**

TRIS'S POV

"Four!" I call out from one end of the initiates, "I'm gonna grab a snack. Want anything?"

"No thanks, Six!"

We've spent the past two hours instructing the initiates on their knife throwing. Asta and Alex were of course, going particularly well stopping every now and then to compare. Asta's knives were in a better grouping than Alex's but Alex's were almost all where he had aimed them. I don't think you can split those two; I honestly don't. Jet had a naturally knack for throwing knives and was also going very well, as were Sasha and Laura. Jacob and Kiara were not going so well. Kiara hasn't hit the target at all yet and Jacob has only hit the target once - right on the edge. Tobias was spending his time trying to teach those two whilst I gave tips to all the others.

I make my way out of the training room, now I'm hungry. I just want a snack but I haven't eaten much all day and training transfers builds a hunger. On my way, Zeke walks out of the control room with an armful of papers.

I sneak up closely behind and grab him as I call out, "hey Zekeybear!"

The documents are thrown across the floor as Zeke scrambles away. Huffing he sighs, "geez Tris!" I scared Zeke! I clutch my stomach from laughter as he glares to me. We pick up the papers and he walks me to my apartment for food. He leaves the documents on Tobias' desk explaining that they were from his old job.

We walk back to the training room together as he fills me in on his new and expanding crush on Shauna.

TOBIAS' POV

Finally! She's gone! Time to start my plan!

"Keep throwing knives!" I call to the initiates earning a confused look from a few that I ignore.

I head to the back of the training room and find the bucket of water I had left there earlier. I take it to the door of the training room and find a stepladder. The doors are tall so I can't reach the top. The top rung of the stepladder shakes as I place my weight on it. I struggle to balance at first but then regain my composure. The sound of knives slamming into the targets is lacking and I turn to see every initiate staring at me with a confused look.

"If you're going to stand there, you may as well help!" I sigh, "Alex, pass me that bucket will you?"

Alex nods and walks over to the base of the stepladder. I open the training room door slightly and take the bucket of water from Alex. It balances on top of the door so that it's just stable.

"Alright you guys, enough fun! Back to knives!" I call out then add, "If anybody warns Tris, I will see to it that you become Faction-Less. Understand?"

To this I receive a few nods and a few 'yes Fours'. I return back to helping Kiara and Jacob. They have both made an improvement and have both hit centre now but they aren't as good as the other initiates. They lack in the determination of a Dauntless member.

'C'mon Tris!' I think to myself and smirk, 'she is soooooo gonna get me back for this…'

After about 10 minutes I hear Tris laughing down the hall and then I hear Zeke, "bye Trissy Boo!"

"Bye Zekey Bear!" Tris laughs some more and then there's silence.

Most of the initiates look at me, "keep throwing," I yell to them just as Tris reaches the doors.

"Oh hey Four I -'" Tris is cut off as she pushes the door open. "FOUR YOU PANSYCAKE I AM GOING TO KILL YOU I SWEAR IT!" Tris pushed the training room door open, causing the bucket of water to tip straight on top of her. I place my hand on Jacobs back as I steady myself from laughter. She's soaking. And now she's running straight for me. Crap.

I make a run for it past the targets towards the fight mats. I jump in and stick my arms up in front of my face as if preparing for a fight. I would never hurt Tris though and she knows it. I can't say the same for her right now though.

"You wanna kill me do you, Six?" I smile at her as she steps on the mat with me. The initiates crowd around the edge occasionally calling out to us. But I ignore them. I'm focused on Tris.

"Damn straight!" She looks me in the eye and scowls, but I know she finds it funny - deep down, very deep down.

"You know, it's hard to take you seriously when you're soaking wet!" I laugh at her and raise my eyebrows.

"Oh yeah? Try and take me seriously now!" Tris aims a kick to my side and I take her foot in my hand and spin her around so I'm holding her foot, but her back is facing me. I pull her closer to me and fling her over my shoulder.

"Gosh, Six! How much did you have to eat just then? You way twice as much as you did this morning!" I tease and she reaches down and punches my chest.

"Hey! Not playing nice now, are we?" Tris tries to act angry but laughs. She shifts her body so her lips are pressed against my ear as she whispers, "Oh Tobias, it. Is. On!"


	17. Four!

**iF yOu LiVeD iN a SoCiEtY lIkE dIvErGeNt, WhIcH fAcTiOn DiD yOu CoMe FrOm AnD wHiCh WoUlD yOu ChOoSe? (:**

**lEt Me KnOw WhAt YoU tHiNk Of ThE sToRy**

TRIS' POV

" That's training over for the day! We will practice in the morning tomorrow and judge you after lunch. Any questions, no? Good!" Tobias yells, me still dangling around his shoulders.

"Put me down!" I laugh after the initiates have left.

"Or what?" Tobias smirks as he carries me towards our apartment.

When we get there I'm thrown onto the bed and Tobias lies down beside me. We stay there for an hour, talking and occasionally kissing before I leave.

"Oh! I have to meet up with Christina! See you at dinner in 20?"

"Yeah of course." Tobias pulls me in for a hug and then I leave. Time for revenge! I pull out my phone and send Christina a text.

T - Hey, meet me at Dining Hall

C - Everything ok?

T - Yep

C - What's up?

T - Explain when you get here!

C - Ok... See ya then

In less than a minute, Christina is at the corner walking towards me.

"Hey, Tris! What's up?" She smiles as she reaches me, a worried look slowly creaping across her face.

"Four pranked me. I need revenge." I say simply and she smirks.

"Any ideas?"

"I've got one or two. But I'll need your help to finish in time."

"Done!" Christina and I say at the same time and start laughing. Shauna, Zeke, Marlene and Uriah walk through the door just in time.

"What's done?" Zeke asks with a worried expression as he kisses my cheek to greet me.

"Knowing Tris, nothing good!" Uriah answers for us and I pretend to act upset.

"Don't worry. Just - don't have the salt or sauce!" I tell them, stifling a giggle.

"And don't tell Four anything!" Christina adds and we sit down laughing together.

A few minutes later, Four and Will arrive together and each stand behind their seats next to Christina and I.

"How many burgers you want?" Four asks as he leans down and kisses me on the cheek.

"Just one thanks," I say and warn the others again.

"Why?" Marlene asks and Christina and I both just shake our heads.

Four and Will return to our table and sit down next to us. He gives me my burger and takes his two. Four leans out and takes the 'ketchup' and applies it to his burger. He then adds 'mustard' and says, "mustard's not looking too good is it?"

I just nod and watch as he finishes. He adds some 'salt' to his burger before biting into it. Our whole group watches intently, wanting to know what's happening.

Three chews. That's how long it took before Tobias spat his burger onto his plate.

"THE HECK IS WRONG WITH THE BURGERS?!" He shouts causing my group to laugh and look at Christina and I. We just laugh uncontrollably, unable to speak. "Of course!" He's figured it out now, "YOU! TRIS WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BURGER?!"

Christina and I recover and I say, "I didn't do anything! You did it all!" With that we burst out laughing again.

"What do you mean I - oh? Of course! What did you put in the mustard?" He looks at me and so do the others. Christina and I keep laughing until she responds.

"Partially melted whipped cream!" Our group laughs with Christina and I but Tobias just looked at his burger.

"Tris! What else!" Dang he's gooooood!

"Extra spicy hot sauce in the ketchup and sugar instead of salt!" I manage to say, how - I don't know but I do.

We all laugh again and now it's Tobias' turn to whisper into my ear. "You're right. This is so on."

"It already was before." I say and for a second we smile at each other before Tobias starts his second burger, this one without sauce!

TOBIAS' POV

"TOBIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!" I hear Tris scream from the washroom.

I laugh to myself and answer as innocently as I can manage, "Yes Tris?"

Tris walks out of the washroom wrapped in just a towel and wow - she is hot.

"I know you did this!" Tris points to her hair, which is now toned a light pink. It was her idea to continue our little prank war so I decided to mix a small amount of food colouring in with her shampoo.

"Pink really looks good with your eyes Tris!" I laugh and collapse on the bed, clutching my stomach as a stitch starts to form.

"TOBIAS!" She shouts yet again. "You're hopeless! I'm calling Christina!" I notice Tris waving her hands around but I don't take much notice. I'm too busy laughing.

I listen to Tris' phone call but could only hear her end. "Hey Christina? He struck back. *pause* yes! *pause* I have pink hair!"

To this I hear the response screech through the phone, "WHAT OH MY GOD PINK? I HAVE TO SEE THIS! I WILL BE RIGHT THERE!" Christina squeals through the phone as Tris scrunches her nose up.

"Bring shampoo!" Tris adds before she throws her phone on the table and lies down next to me. "Oh Tobias! You cheeky thing!"

"I love your hair," I pout then smirk to her.

"I'm going to get you back, you know that right?"

"Of course." We smile as he leans in to kiss me. Just as his lips reach mine Christina walks through our front door. We really need to start locking that!

"Oh, my gosh!" Christina's jaw hits the ground, "Four! Look what you did! You can mess with anything but don't mess with a girls appearance!" She drags me into the washroom and pulls out a bottle - I assume shampoo – out of the bag she's brought with her.

TRIS' POV

*half an hour later*

I can't believe he did that. Actually, I can. It is Tobias after all. Christina spent over half an hour with me putting my head over the sink and her scrubbing. Now, you can only see a pink tinge if you like closely. Christina did a good job!

"Any ideas to get him back?" Christina asks me as she throws my pink tinged shampoo and conditioner away.

"I've got one but it needs some work," I smirk to her and we laugh evilly.

"Ok, well, it's getting late so pop by Will and I's apartment tomorrow morning and we can talk about it. See ya!"

"Bye! Thank you!" I call out.

"Goodbye. Four." Christina narrows her eyes playfully before smiling and walking out. I jump into bed with Tobias and curl into his arms.

"You scared?" I ask Tobias as I listen to his steady heartbeat.

"Should I be?" I can almost hear him smiling.

"Terrified!" I smirk and we laugh, "goodnight Tobias."

"Good night Tris."


	18. A little advice

**wHaT's GoInG tO hApPeN?! dUn DuN dUuUuUn!**

**FiNd OuT nOw!**

"Luke - raise your elbow higher!" Tobias shouts to Luke, who has missed the target the last few throws. Sure enough, he hits the target about five centimetres away from centre.

"Alex, try not to grip the knife so tightly, your aim is going well but your arm is tense." I watch as Alex nods and loosens his grip. He listens to everything he is told and although he didn't hit centre this time, his technique was perfect and I tell him so before watching Asta. She too just misses the centre and I nod before moving on to watch some of the other initiates. I would occasionally hear Tobias shout something out to an initiate and I offered help where it was needed too.

"Alright guys, get some lunch!" Tobias yells as he twists a knife in his fingers. The initiates all leave and I go to the corner of the training room to organize paper and pens for after lunch, when we score the initiates. Before I return to Tobias, I notice he's throwing knives himself and yep, he's perfect. He has perfect technique and hits the target dead centre every time. I'm mesmerised by the muscles, well defined through his shirt and for a moment I stay there and take in the site before something snaps me out of it. Kiara.

"Hey Four!"

Tobias stops throwing immediately and faces her. "Kiara." He nods to her before turning back to the target and throwing another perfect knife, "I thought I ordered you to get lunch?"

"You did," Kiara says as she walks towards him, "I wanted to know if you wanted to come to lunch with me?" I didn't know a person could blink so frequently.

"No." Tobias says simply before picking up another knife.

"Why not, Four?" Kiara moves her hand to his chest and I see Tobias' hand tense around the knife. Oh no.

"Ready for lunch Four?" I yell as I walk around the corner acting like I witnessed nothing.

I watch the colour drain from Tobias and Kiara's faces as Kiara rips her hand back to her side.

"Definitely," he sighs gratefully as I walk up to him.

Kiara starts talking now, "um I was talking to Four, Six."

"And I don't care, Candor." I spit at her scowling.

"I'm not Candor!" She smiles smugly and I hold back a laugh.

"Well you're certainly not Dauntless!" I notice Tobias raising his hand to his mouth to conceal a smile, he's proud.

"Ugh!" Kiara throws her arm in the air as she heads out of the training room.

"Oh and Candor?" I call as she reaches the doors and she turns to look at me. "You ever lay a hand on my boyfriend again, and I will make sure of it that every one of your days is spent visiting the infirmary. Got it?"

She nods and the only thing she manages to say is, "boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend!" Tobias wraps his arm around my waist and steps forward, "get lost, Candor."

And surely enough, she goes.

Tobias turns to me and places his hands on the small of my back. "You're hot when you're jealous!" Our lips press together and we stay like that until I take his hand and we walk to the dining hall. We get looks from all of the initiates, staring at our interlocked hands, apart from Asta, Alex, Jet and Luke. Looks like Kiara told everyone. I notice Asta gives me a thumbs up and I roll my eyes to her as Tobias and I arrive at our group's table.

"What's with the looks?" Marlene asks as I take my seat and Tobias goes to get us lunch.

"Just found out we're dating," I smiled to her as she nodded and Uriah let out a small laugh.

"Ok after lunch we are scoring the initiates until, when?" Uriah asks to Tobias and I whilst Tobias sits down.

"Yep, score 'em until you're finished scoring them. No particular time but make sure you mark a few throws, not just the one," Tobias answers placing a hamburger in front of me and one in front of him.

"Ok." Christina says, "and we will meet in the training room so we can add up the scores together?"

"Yep," Tobias and I both say and nod.

"And then you're coming shopping with me!" Christina smiles smugly and before I can say anything she kicks my shin. Ouch. Got it. We will be discussing my payback. I just groan and roll my eyes as I pick at my burger.

Lunch goes by quite quickly and before I know it, Uriah, Christina, Tobias and I are heading back to our training rooms. Tobias and I set out ten knives in front of each of the targets. I place the final knife down and when I look up I see Tobias standing in front of me smiling. I smile cautiously back to him as he places his hands on my waist and pulls me towards him pressing his lips against mine. I recover myself and press my lips forward against his.

"I'm in love with you, Tris," Tobias whispers against my lips and I smile against his. We crash together again and his tongue grazes against my bottom lip asking for entry. I allow it and his hands pull me in tighter. All of a sudden, Tobias' lips halt but stay pressed to mine. His hands slide down to his sides and he peels his lips from mine. He takes a deep breath before turning around and that's when I notice all of our initiates standing there. Watching us.


	19. New scores

**wHaT's Up InItIaTeS? kEeP rEvIeWiNg Xx**

**SoRrY, tHiS cHaPtEr'S sHoRt…**

Kiara has a foul look on her face whilst Laura and Sasha wear a shocked smile. Jet, Luke and Jacob look almost bored, Asta and Alex are smiling and I step next to Tobias.

"Well... Uh today you're being scored." Tobias recovers, "everyone stand in front of a target but not one person will throw knives until Six or I tell you to. Understood?" The initiates nod as each one stands in line with a target. I look to Tobias and he has the biggest grin on his face. He's talking to Jet and they are both laughing about something, I'm guessing about what just happened.

"Four and I are going to watch each of you throw ten knives. You will be marked out of ten, five points from me and five from Four!"

"The person with the lowest score will become factionless!"

I hand Tobias a pen and a piece of paper. The scoring will be similar to how we scored the shooting but, of course, still different. This time, we both start from Alex. Tobias and I watch him and score silently so that it's obvious the scores are not rigged.

Alex takes his first knife and grips it just like I told him. He starts off holding the knife tightly but then loosens his grip, obviously remembering what I said. He aims the knife and throws it, handle over blade. The knife launches itself about one centimetre off centre. The next knife lands perfectly. I mark Alex a five. After about two hours all of the initiates have thrown their knives and been scored so Tobias tells them to leave. About half an hour later, Christina and Uriah walk in and we sit in a circle on the floor adding up the points.

The transfers ended up looking like this:

Asta - 10

Alex - 10

Jet - 10

Sasha - 9

Laura - 8

Luke - 8

Kiara - 6

Jacob - 5

This time, it's Jacob that will become factionless. I didn't know him that well. He was kind of quiet and seemed to blend in.

Tobias and I checked the Dauntless-Borns' scores as well after Christina and Uriah added them up.

Jack - 10

Tash - 9

Mathew - 8

Ash - 8

Jaz - 8

Rees - 7

Victor - 7

Shane - 6

Emma - 6

Greg - 5

Riley - 4

Riley will become factionless from their group. I didn't know him personally but I have seen him weak and lacks motivation. He would have been thrashed in the fights anyways, it's probably better he left now.

"Ok, you're coming with me!" Christina smiles and drags me out of the training room. I will write up the scores on the board tomorrow morning but for now I fake roll my eyes and say goodbye to the boys.


	20. Oh Kiara

**iF tHeRe'S sOmEtHiNg YoU wAnT tO hApPeN iN tHe StOrY, i WiLl PuT iT iN sO lEt Me KnOw. I'm HaPpY tO cHaNgE sOmEtHiNg Or AdD tHiNgS iN!**

Christina leads me back to her and Will's apartment and we sit down on their bed. Their apartment is smaller than Tobias and mines but it doesn't seem to mean much. I tell Christina what I was thinking and she adds and adapts my idea. Our plan went like this:

I would call Christina and put the call on speaker. Then, I would hide the phone in between the mattress and the bed frame - where I knew Tobias would never find it. Christina would wait until we went to bed and before he falls asleep, she would put on a different voice and speak through the phone. I would act oblivious and Tobias, he would think he's insane. Hopefully.

When Will arrived home, Christina told him about the plan and he started laughing. We decided he would help with the talking and for a while, we discussed different things they could say before I looked at the time on my phone: six o'clock.

"We better head down to dinner guys." I smile and Will nods. We all walk to the dining hall and just before we enter, Christina stops.

"We were supposed to be shopping!" Her eyes go wide and I smile, thankful we didn't.

"Just play along, ok?" I have an idea so she nods and the three of us walk in.

Zeke, Shauna, Uriah, Marlene and Tobias are all already sitting down. Marlene and Uriah have Will and Christina's dinner and Tobias has mine. We sit down next to them and gladly take our dinner.

"Thank you," I say to Tobias and hear Christina and a Will thanking Uriah and Marlene.

"It's fine," Tobias smiles then pinches his eyebrows together skeptically, "how was shopping?"

"We didn't go!" I smile, "I convinced Christina to just let us watch movies, so we did."

"That's a first!" Tobias says and Christina laughs.

"But Tris promised that I could take her shopping another time so I accepted the deal!" Cheeky Christina. I just look at her and smile a false smile.

"How's training going?" Shauna asks and we tell her about what's been happening.

"It sounds like a better way of doing things!" Zeke says.

"It is!" Uriah adds, "we worked really hard last year and it was pointless!"

I agree and Christina just nods.

"Tomorrow, all the initiates will find out their scores and have the rest of the day free to do whatever they want. They can have a short break before the fights start." Tobias says and everyone nods along.

"So you guys aren't doing anything tomorrow then?" Zeke asks suddenly perking up from his seat excitedly.

"We have to show the initiates their score but after that, no," I answer him and Zeke's face lights up again.

"Well in that case! Party at my place tomorrow!" We all roll our eyes smiling but agree to go.

Our group leaves the Dining Hall and Tobias and I return to our apartment. We talk for a while before I go get changed for bed. When I come out, Tobias is shirtless and has already changed into his boxers. He makes his way towards me and our lips lock. We press together and my hands wrestle through his hair as we kiss passionately. Tobias slides his hands up to my face and holds my cheeks. Just as his fingers slide into my hair, there is a knock at the door. He groans and goes to see whom it is. I take this opportunity to call Christina and I tell her I'm putting the phone under the mattress now, but we aren't going to sleep yet. She just says "ok" and agrees to wait and listen until we go to bed. After the phone is in place I head to the door to see who is there. Tobias has only just reached the door because he went to put pants on before seeing who it is. When he opens the door I'm shocked to see the scrawny figure I do. It's Kiara.

"Hey Four!" She says batting her eye lashes.

"Kiara," Four says simply and adds, "what do you want?"

"I just wanted to chat, can I come in?" She takes a step towards Tobias, trying to come in, but he doesn't move.

"No. You're an initiate and I'm your instructor. Go away." Tobias says using his Instructor Four voice.

"Nobody has to know, Four," she places her hands around his waist and pushes her body up against his. I'm so close to going up to her and slapping her across the face but instead, I want to see how Four deals with it.

"Kiara, it's not appropriate for you to be here and quite honestly I don't want you here. I have a girlfriend who I love very much and that lady is certainly not you!" Tobias says and I'm almost in tears - that was so sweet!

"Shhhhh she doesn't have to know either!" She places one finger over his lips and I've had enough.

"Yes! Yes she does!" I place my hand on Tobias' shoulder pulling him back.

Colour drains from her face, "wait! You two live together?!"

"Yes! Now get the hell away from Four before you're sent to the infirmary!"

"By who? You? Pfffft! Yeah right!"

Anger bubbles inside of me and I feel Tobias hand on my back. When did he put his hand on my back? All of a sudden, a sharp pain claws at my hand and I stumble. I look to see Kiara fall to the ground. I just punched her in the face. I did? She clutches her cheek and tries to kick me from her place on the ground but I grab her foot. I straddle her chest and repeatedly punch her. I don't stop until I'm being dragged off of her by Tobias.

"Shhh! Shhh! Tris it's ok!" He has his hands on my cheek and he's trying to calm me down, "I'm here! I'm yours! It's ok!"

"Ok," I nod still trying to piece together what's happened.

"I'm going to take her to the infirmary ok? I'm going to pick her up but she's unconscious so she won't know it," Tobias is speaking in a slow voice trying to get me to process his words.

"Sure no it's fine ok yep I'm going to go inside," I say and walk inside. I sit down on the side of our bed and smile. I punched Kiara. She deserved it. She won't touch Four again. I punched Kiara.

"Hey, Tris! You ok?" Christina? "I heard what happened Tris, she had it coming!" Definitely Christina. The phone!

"Yeah I know! Four was furious as well! I just can't believe she would do that!"

"Yeah I totally agree! I mean honestly? Four was way out of her league anyways! Plus he's taken and YOU are his girlfriend!"

Will cuts in now, "and he's her instructor I mean, who would date their instructor?"

I laugh at this knowing he's being a smart ass, "you're friends with our instructor!"

"And you're dating the man!" Christina again.

"Shut it you two!" I laugh, "oh seriously shoosh! I think he's back!"

With that they are quiet. Tobias comes into the room and sits next to me on the bed, "I dropped her off. Marlene has a late shift in the infirmary so she's with her now making sure she doesn't leave. I love you Tris. You! And nobody else I promise."

"I know." I smile, "I love you too - she deserved it though!"

"Exactly!" He smiles and kisses my lips. He places his hands through my hair and pulls me on top of him. For a moment I forget about everything that's happened. Then I remember. Christina and Will!

I pull away from Tobias and kiss his cheek.

"Night T-Four!" I say almost calling him Tobias.

"What? Not using my name anymore?" Tobias smiles, "you always call me Tob-"

I stop him with a kiss and when I look back at him he's smiling.

"I suddenly don't mind anymore! Goodnight Six!"

I laugh, "goodnight Four!"


	21. The latest prank

**pLeAsE rEvIeW/fAvOuRiTe/FoLlOw**

**EnJoY!**

I lie in bed next to him for about 10 minutes processing everything that's happened today. The warmth from Tobias' arms radiates onto me and I snuggle closer. I really don't like Kiara and I can't wait to see her lose the fights. I know she will. She's taller than me, but not very tall and although she acts strong, she has little muscle.

Then I hear it, the start of our prank. It shocks me at first, lost in thought and not expecting to hear it.

"I love you Tris!" It's Will, I can tell but only because I knew it would either be him or Christina. His voice is deeper than normal and a lot more airy; almost as if a soft gush of wind could blow it away at any second. I feel Tobias shift around next to me. When I don't move I notice him relax a little bit.

"Night Four!" Christina is trying to impersonate my voice. It doesn't sound like me but it certainly does not sound like Christina.

Tobias rolls over, "Tris?"

"Mmh?" I ask him acting sleep dazed. I'm wide-awake, though, trying to stifle my smile.

"Was that you?"

"Was what me?" I ask him acting confused.

"Nothing, don't worry sorry I though I heard something."

Christina speaks again, "you did."

Tobias sits up this time, "who's there?" He places an arm across my body trying to protect me and I sit up.

"Hey! What's wrong? Are you alright?" I ask him and hear Will after I speak.

"Yeah. Are you alright?" I'm glad it's dark because I'm stifling laughter.

"Can't you hear that?" Tobias asks and I feel guilty. Then I remember the shade of pink my hair went and I don't feel guilty anymore.

"It's silent? Hey, there's nobody there!" I whisper and lie back down pulling him back down with me.

"Ok," Tobias says and I know he's nodding.

It's silent for a few minutes before Will speaks again, "did you even think of Tris when Kiara was hitting on you?"

"I bet you didn't!" Christina speaks now. They don't sound like themselves whatsoever and I'm impressed.

"I DID TOO!" Tobias screams and sits up.

"Hey! What's wrong? Hey shhh! It's ok what wrong?!" I sit next to him and wrap him in my arms.

"I love you Tris! I don't care about anything other than you I promise ok! You mean everything to me and I wouldn't do anything to hurt you! I'm so sorry I didn't stop Kiara earlier! I didn't enjoy any of it I promise I wanted her to stop I did! I love you so much I swear I do!"

I hold Tobias in my arms and whisper, "I know! I love you too!"

Just then, our door flies open and the lights turn on. Christina and Will are standing there.

"How much do you love her?" Christina says in the voice she's been putting on.

"Yeah Four, how much?" Will asks in the voice he's been putting on.

"What the hell?" Tobias asks looking back and forth between us.

"When I told you it was on, I meant it!" I laugh and so do Christina and Will.

"Wait so you planned all of this?" Tobias looks at me and I nod, "yesterday?" Another nod.

He lies back down and pulls the pillow across his face, "I hate all of you." His voice is muffled from the pillow but still audible. We laugh and eventually Tobias sits back up.

I go to retrieve my phone from under the mattress and he just shakes his head, "I have to get payback now!"

We laugh and I hug Christina and Will, "night guys!"

"See ya!" They say and I hug Tobias.

"I love you Tobias!"

"I love you too Tris!" He sighs but I know in his head he's thinking of possible payback pranks.

"Goodnight," we both say in unison before drifting off to sleep.


	22. Making Plans

**hAvE aNy IdEaS fOr PrAnKs Or TrUtHs/DaReS? Pm Me YoUr IdEaS! i'D lOvE tO kNoW tHeM (:**

"Tris! Four! Wakey Wakey!" I rub my eye with the heel of my palm and roll over - 8:00am.

"Wake up!" A voice sings from the other side of our door, I hear it creak open note the pattering of footsteps entering the apartment.

"Who is it?" Tobias calls back as he runs his hands through his hair and stretches out.

"I'm almost ashamed you had to ask!"

"Go away Christina!" I yell suddenly realising the source of the voice.

"No. I'm getting you ready for Zeke's party!" Christina sits on the end of our bed and I groan, "we are going shopping! You owe me! Remeeeeeember?" Christina drags out the 'e' and I rise from the bed as she comments how cute a couple we are. As I move to push her away, Tobias' baggy shirt slides down my shoulder and I have to stop to pull it back up.

She gives me ten minutes to get ready and we go shopping. I found out the party starts at one, after we have all finished lunch and got ready. Christina drags me through so many stores I lose count. All I know is that I have around ten shopping bags in my arms and that it's half past eleven.

"Ok, go put those clothes away and I will meet you in the dining hall." Christina delivers her orders and I nod like the assertive soldier I am.

"Someone looks like they had fun!" He greets me smirking and I notice he's sitting at the desk with a new stack of paperwork in front of him.

"Heaps!" I say sarcastically and throw the bags on our bed before beginning to unpack them. "Someone looks like they've been busy!"

"Very." He answers putting down a sheet of paper, "I'm trying to get up to date with everything that's happening between the factions. There's a lot to know!"

"Mmhmm there is. I can give you my summary notes from work later if you like?" I say packing away the clothes.

"That'd be great."

About ten minutes later, all my new clothes are packed away.

"I'm getting a snack before we go to lunch, want anything?" I ask Tobias as I walk towards the kitchen.

"No thanks." He says back as his eyes flicker across a new page.

"When did you get the Oreos?" I take them from their shelf, "I haven't had one in ages!"

"Don't eat those - they're mine!" He smiles and I smirk back. Now I want to eat them to spite him. Laughing, I take one from the packet. I bite into the biscuit and focus on the familiar, delicious taste. I demolish two biscuits and pick up a third. "Sure you don't want one?"

"Positive."

I bite into my third Oreo and start gagging. It tastes foul! "TOBIAS!" I screech. I throw the Oreo packet on the bench and run to get a drink of water.

"Yes?" He's laughing.

"What did you do to my Oreos?!"

"I told you not to eat them!" He smirks, "I was just teaching you a lesson!"

"AAARGH they tasted disgusting!"

"I might've put toothpaste inside some? Thought you might like it. No?" He snickers and I rinse out my mouth. Ugh.

"Come on! Let's get some lunch already!" I sigh and drag Tobias out of the apartment, him laughing in tow.

"You guys still coming for the party?" Shauna asks between bites of her burger.

"Do we have a choice?" I laugh and look to Zeke.

"Ummm no!" He says simply then adds, "we're playing candor or dauntless again."

"Ugh we always play that?!" Uriah groans which receives an eye roll from Zeke.

"That's because there's nothing else to play." Zeke points out and at first I agree.

"We could play paintball?" Tobias adds and I think it would be fun!

Zeke goes pale, "in my apartment? Heck no!"

"No you idiot! We'd go somewhere else!" Uriah laughs at Zeke and they have a fight across the table. We step in to separate them.

We're still laughing when Shauna continues the conversation, "Four, what time's the next train?"

Tobias looks at his watch before answering, "twelve minutes."

"Ok. Well let's go get ready and we will meet at the tracks?" Marlene suggests and we all nod.

"I will bring the paintballs, Uri come help," Zeke says.

"See you guys then." Will says as we stand and leave.

Tobias and I walk hand in hand back to our apartment. I've decided to wear a pair of black skinny jeans and a cotton v-neck t-shirt. I tie my hair back into a ponytail and wait for Tobias to finish getting ready.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" He says, like always and I laugh.

"C'mon, let's go!" I say taking his hand and pulling him away from the apartment.

The wind from the train whips my hair. I take the smallest step forward and feel my toes reach the edge of the platform, the train less than five centimetres away from my toes. I have gotten used to the dauntless lifestyle. I actually catch myself enjoying it.

"Alright guys, get on the next cart!" Tobias calls out over the screech of the train tracks.

I count to three in my head and then launch myself forward into the train cart. Christina is already inside and she helps pull me in. By the time I stand, Will, Uriah, Marlene and Shauna are all inside. I also notice a tub full of paintballs and guns. I watch Zeke jump in next - he does it with ease. Like it's a simple action he has done thousands of times. And, well, he probably has.

Tobias is the last to get in. He grabs hold of a handle and pulls himself in from the side. I watch as he leans against the opening of the train and I go to stand by his side. He wraps one arm around my waist and holds the handle with the other. We stay like this for a while until Shauna speaks.

"What will the teams be?"

"How about we go teams of two? Couples verse couples?" Uriah suggests and I like the idea.

Everyone agrees and about five minutes later, we jump from the train.


	23. Paintball

**tHaNk YoU sO mUcH fOr ThE sUpPoRt! **

**HeRe'S tHe NeXt ChApTeR**

"Let's play elimination." We all gather together and Christina is the first to speak, "you get hit, you're out! Last team standing wins." We join in a chorus of agreements and I take Tobias' hand in mine. I always feel alone when we are not touching. Nothing feels right.

"Split up!" Zeke yells and starts to lead Shauna away.

"The game will begin in exactly 5 minutes!" Uriah adds and I don't see hear anymore after it.

Tobias and I are heading east. We both know the eastern part; we went there once, just me and him. There's forest cover in some areas, rocky ledges in others and a nice beach to lookout over. I know we're here for paintball but that doesn't mean it can't be romantic. We are going to win. We have to. We will.

Tobias checks his watch what seems like every few seconds.

"It's time." Tobias smirks as he pulls me in for a kiss. His lips press to mine and I wrap my hands around his neck, his arms wrapped around my waist. Before long, I take his hand and pull away.

"We have to win remember?" I smirk.

He groans but flicks his gun in front him and holds it with his spare hand; I do the same.

"Wanna sit here?" He asks indicating to a rock surrounded by foliage. It's protected and will allow cover but we can still see what's going on.

I take a seat on this rock. It's quite large and has a flag surface, perfect for a seat. Tobias sits next to me and we both take the straps of our guns off to hold them next to us.

"It's quiet," I gaze around looking for any sign of the others. I hear a rustling in the bushes not far from where we sit and look up in time to see a bird fly away.

"Mmh," In the corner of my eye I notice Tobias nodding.

A while passes and eventually, I cave in to the silence.

"I'm bored!" I moan and lie back on the rock.

"Oh really," Tobias smirks and leans over me, tickling my sides. I squeal and laugh until I can hold myself for long enough to ask him to stop.

"Tobias," I laugh-squeal, "they'll hear! We'll lose!" He collapses onto the rock next to me laughing. We try to be quiet but I know we weren't and even though I'm sort of hoping that the others didn't hear, I don't really care, Tobias and I could take them!

Tobias sighs signaling the end of his laughter, "what now?"

I slide in close to him and lean in so that my lips are millimetres away from his ear, "I have an idea," I whisper in the most seductive voice I can manage. As I do so, I slide my hand to the inside of his thigh and as I lean back I watch his eyes go wide. I move across him and slide on top so that I'm straddling his waist. I take his hand and wrap them so that they are on my hips and I take his cheeks in my hand.

I press my lips to his, moving from his lips to the spot just below his ear and I hear a slight moan escape him. I twist my hands through his hair and begin kissing down his neck. I grind my waist against him and feel his grip tighten around my waist. I slide my hands slowly down his chest until they reach the top of his pants. I grind my hips again and this time, feel a bulge coming from his jeans.

I peck his lips and slide off him, picking up my gun as I do and looking around. I hear a half laugh half moan from behind me and see Tobias slowly standing up.

He looks at me and I just say, "payback." He shakes his head.

I hear whispering behind me and step back into Tobias. His body is tense and I know he's thinking the same thing.

The voices whisper '3' '2' '1' and Tobias and I turn around and fire. It's Zeke and Shauna. Straight after firing Tobias pulls me to the right and we fall to the floor, immediately standing up again. Zeke and Shauna have both been hit and I look down. I'm clean and so is Tobias!

"Yeah!" We scream and I jump into his arms. Quick enough, I go to Shauna and she tells me about how she saw everything that just happened.

"I didn't think you had it in you!" She laughs and I know my cheeks are flaming red. She keeps talking but I focus on listening to what Zeke is saying to Tobias. I can't hear much but there is one sentence that I do hear:

"I knew you were Abnegation, Four, but sheesh," Zeke laughs and Tobias looks worried at first, "you're looking a little... Stiff." Zeke cracks up laughing but I glare at him and Shauna suggests they go to the dead zone because they are out. Tobias and I follow them from about a hundred metres away and in the thick coverings of forest. We see that Will and Christina have also been hit which just leaves Uriah and Marlene.

"Let's go win this thing!" Tobias smirks to me and we both head out to try and find them. We search for about half an hour when I see a flash of movement.

I tap Tobias' chest, "psst, Four!" I whisper and flick my head in their direction. He observes where they are and then turns to me, nodding. He holds up one finger, then two and then a third. As soon as this happens, we jump out from behind our coverage firing paintballs at everything we can. Within seconds Uriah and Marlene are covered in paint and Tobias and I - squeaky clean. We win!

I hear comments from Uriah and Marlene but Tobias throws me over his shoulder and the four of us run back to the others. Tobias and I cheer the way that Dauntless do and Uriah and Marlene just trudge along behind us. I feel free. I feel Dauntless.


	24. Challenges

**hOw'S iT gOiNg InItIaTeS? **

**rEaD oN!**

The initiates, transfers and dauntless-borns, were all called to the training rooms. Christina and I wrote the rankings up on separate blackboards whilst Uriah and Tobias had challenges throwing knives. Tobias won every time of course, but Uriah has good aim and you could tell they were having fun.

"I feel mean doing this," Christina mutters while writing up the last few names and I understand completely. One initiate from each group will become factionless today, no returning home, no staying in Dauntless. I remember the stories my mother would tell me of the loss and emptiness it means to be factionless. All I manage to say is 'mmh' and I write up the last names too.

When we finish, we prop the boards against a wall and join the boys throwing knives. The challenge now is throwing a knife at the target whilst blindfolded. Christina volunteers to go first so Uriah ties a strip of black material around her eyes and guides her in the direction of the target.

"Ok, straight ahead of you Christina. Whenever your ready!" Uriah guides her as he steps next to me. Tobias takes my hand and Christina raises her arm. She bends he elbow and flicks her wrist and the knife flies through the air. It hits the target and it's a good throw, but the handle hit the target and not the blade so it clatters to the floor. Christina has now taken the blindfold off and muttered something about it being a 'terrible throw'.

"Christina! That was great! If the blade had hit first, it would have hit the target." I tell her and it's true.

"I'm next!" Uriah says and Christina ties the blindfold on him.

"From here." She angles him so he faces the target.

Uriah's blade flies through the air and launches into the bottom left corner of the target. It was a good shot with the blindfold, but nothing special. Uriah looks proud and I guess he should be, he hit the target. I hope I do now too and I think I will. Tobias and I come down here quite often and he's improved my technique overtime, so much that I'm almost as good as him. Almost. I've never tried doing it blindfolded though, either!

"You're up!" Tobias nudges me and takes the blindfold from Uriah. The darkness consumes my site and I feel the soft touch of his hands grazing my neck as he pulls my hair back to tie the blindfold. Somebody takes my hand and I immediately know it's Tobias. Our hands fit together perfectly. Well, that and the fact that I hear Christina saying 'aaaaaaw' behind me.

Tobias' lips graze my ear and he squeezes my arm. "Aim a little bit higher than normal, but not much. Also, keep your body the direction I pose it in, you will be inclined to rotate to your left: don't."

I nod along and take in everything he says. Just as he finishes the last sentence I hear a call from behind me. "How come I didn't have a personal coach?" Uriah calls laughing, "you're going to be better than us anyway if Four has had a say in your throwing so just throw the knife!"

"This way," Tobias whispers twisting my body slightly to the right.

I nod and keep my body facing that exact direction. I move my feet around to get a better balance and in a few simple motions, I launch the knife at the target. The familiar 'thump' sound relaxes my ears as I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding. Sliding my blindfold over my head I notice the knife has launched itself about 3 inches away from dead centre. I smile and pull Tobias in for a hug.

"Four's go!" I begin to tie his blindfold. I notice some of the initiates at the door and signal for them to come in but stay silent. I want them to see just how capable their instructors are. Even if Christina and Uriah didn't hit centre, they don't know that for sure, both of them are highly trained Dauntless members with meticulous technique.

I take Tobias' face in my hands and kiss him passionately. When I know that all the initiates are sitting down, I release him and hope he doesn't know they are there. He wouldn't do this if he did. I take his hand and lead him over to where the three of us threw.

"Exactly in front of you," I whisper, "do good!"

I step back so that I am standing next to Uriah and Christina and everyone's eyes are on Tobias. I watch the muscles in his back contract as he raises his arm. In one, swift motion, he flings the knife forward handle over blade and freezes until that familiar 'thump' sound is heard. The knife has hit dead centre.

All the initiates clap and holler and a startled Tobias takes off his mask. I see him looking around the training room to see all 19 initiates grinning at him in obvious awe at what he can do. He quickly walks over to me and takes my hand smiling.

"The kiss?" He smirks and so do I.

"Distraction."

"It worked!" He says and presses his lips against mine again. Catcalls and shouts erupt from the initiates and I hear Christina giggling behind us. Tobias pulls away when Uriah clears his throat and then, the serious talks start.

"Your final rankings for round one, the knife throwing, have been written on these blackboards. I stand next to the transfers' board and Christina stands next to the Dauntless-Borns' one. We turn the black boards around so that the initiates can see the scores.

TRANSFERS

Asta - 10

Alex - 10

Jet - 10

Sasha - 9

Laura - 8

Luke - 8

Kiara - 6

Jacob – 5

DAUNTLESS-BORNS

Jack - 10

Tash - 9

Mathew - 8

Ash - 8

Jaz - 8

Rees - 7

Victor - 7

Shane - 6

Emma - 6

Greg - 5

Riley - 4

***A/N: Just reposting the rankings!***

Tobias takes Jacob and Riley out of the training room to tell them what will be happening - I try not to think about it too much. I notice the transfers; Alex and Asta hug; Kiara, Sasha and Laura talking; Jet and Luke high five. A few of the Dauntless-Borns nod, hands on hips. I watch the Dauntless-Borns I know; Jack, Tash and Mathew all talking, occasionally punching each other's arms joking around; Rees, Shane and another guy stand in silence; Ash and Jaz hug and cheer.

"Alright guys. That's your rankings! Off you go, do what ever you want. Training again tomorrow morning!" I yell over the buzz of the initiates. Most of the Dauntless-Borns leave first followed by the Transfers. Within seconds, the training room is quiet again and the four of us, head off for dinner and sleep. None of us say anything but we aren't looking forward to tomorrow: the day the fights start.


	25. Fight Training

**aS uSuAl, LeT mE kNoW yOuR iDeAs FoR cAnDoR/dAuNtLeSs, PrAnKs, FeArS oR aNyThInG eLsE iN tHe FaNfIc!**

Fights today. Well, not actual fights. But training, which in my mind is close enough. The initiates arrive on time, like always after the first morning, and Tobias and I have already set up everything that's needed. The initiates chat amongst each other like normal waiting until one of us acknowledges them. This morning, however, I notice a change. Asta is talking to Jet. Normally, Asta and Alex talk to each other and nobody else - trying to keep to themselves. Not this morning, clearly.

"Morning." I call out, walking towards them after Tobias and I finish up. This morning, not much setting up was needed. The initiates will be using the punching bags and they are already set out, so we just organised our training session.

"Morning Six!" The initiates say in different tones, pitches and timing. As a whole, they sound to cheery for what will happen today.

I feel arms wrap around my waist and a chin falls on my shoulders. "Morning Four," the initiates say a few laughing awkwardly but Kiara scowling. Ugh. Kiara.

"Alright." Tobias releases me and switches into instructor Four mode. I walk to the back of the group and watch as he explains what will be happening: two days of training, a fight, a break, a fight, a break, a fight, a break, stage 3. I only half listen and focus on him and the initiates instead. I notice Asta and Jet standing quite close together and that Alex will occasionally say something to Luke. I'm happy for them. It's good to have some friends and it seems they've started making some. They probably didn't want to make friends until they knew who the strong ones were. Jet is as tall and broad as Tobias. He isn't as muscular; spending all your childhood with a book in your hands will do that to you, but he will be good at fights.

Luke has a smaller frame than Jet but is still easily bigger than me. He isn't as muscular as Tobias but it appears that he has more muscle than Jet.

The group breaks apart and each goes to a punching bag. Tobias must have told them to go practice some of the basic punches and kicks he demonstrated. I walk towards the rows we set up and get ready to show the initiates the right way to do things. I walk up to Laura first and tell her to focus on her knees and elbows, just like Tobias told me. Laura has a small figure but she isn't as childish looking as I am. Her body is well defined and curvy and has a feminine looking tone of muscle. I show her the moves I've learnt to be effective and she learns them quickly. Just like my Abnegation side, she will always have her Erudite nature.

I move on to the next punching bag and it's Kiara. Great. I tell her to straighten her arms more and to make sure her thumb is in the right place when punching. I don't know if she takes my advice or not and I really don't care. She's too tall for the elbows and knees to be more effective than her hands and feet. I leave her and pass Sasha's punching bag. She's going well and Tobias is standing next to her telling her things whilst she punches. Sasha is tall and slim. She has more muscle than you would think, you can see the muscles in her legs as she walks or the muscles in her arms every time she shot a gun or threw a knife. Sasha wasn't as puffed as all the other initiates with any physical training so I'm assuming she did something athletic back in Candor. It doesn't matter now though. All that matters right now is how well she can throw a good punch and take a beating.

I reach Alex's punching bag next and you can tell he's been training. Every punch has force and is in a good position. I tell him to watch when he resets from a punch. He leaves his kidneys open for a few seconds after every punch, every time. After I tell him, I watch him and he fixes the problem. I watch Alex for a little bit longer and notice he keeps looking past his punching bag and I wonder what he's looking at. I stand directly behind him and notice what it is. It's Sasha.

"Got your eye on her?" I ask with a smirk.

"Sorry? Six?" Alex acts confused as he throws another aggressive punch into the bag, causing it to rattle.

"Sasha. She's very pretty!" I add and take a step into him, "but she has an average punch. Why don't you show her how to do it properly?" It's phased as a suggestion but I'm pushing him to go talk to a girl he's clearly into. Eventually he nods and I step back and watch him talking to her. I don't listen to what's being said but she laughs a few times and then, he starts showing her how to punch correctly. I don't mind, Alex has an almost perfect punch. Tobias gives me a confused look and I just wink at him. He seems to not be interested because he goes back to showing Luke the technique for a certain kick.

After I'm done watching him, I move to Asta.

"He really likes her you know." She huffs to me when I'm near, "but he's just… I don't even know. He wouldn't talk to her! It's like he thought we always needed to be alone together." Asta laughs. She hurls a kick into the punching bag and I laugh too.

"I understand, my brother was just under a year older and he was similar." Now that I say it, it sounds true. Caleb was always around me.

"Is he a Dauntless member?"

"No." I'm sharp this time and snap back into focus. Asta is an initiate, not my friend.

"Oh," I take Asta's forearm and twist it inwards slightly, putting her in a better position.

"Keep your arm more like this. It means you will be more versatile when you need to block or punch." I inform her and throw a soft, slow punch at her. She blocks if perfectly and throws back a soft punch to my side.

"Got it!" She smiles and I partially do as well, lightening the mood. Asta peers over my shoulder while laughing but quickly returns her eyes back to mine.

When the laughing dies down, I'm the first to speak, "it looks like you've got your eyes on someone too."

Red rushes to Asta's tanned cheeks, "what? Jet? No no no no no he's nice but I don't know if..."

"Get to know him a little better," I smile and start walking off, "he's a great guy!" I say the last part louder and Asta puts her head down and keeps punching.

"Who's a great guy?" Jet overheard the my last sentence and smirks cockily as I reach him.

"Certainly not you!" I laugh and poke my tongue out, "c'mon, show me how your punches look."


	26. Training Day Two

**hEy!**

**LeT mE kNoW yOuR tHoUgHtS bEcAuSe I'd ReAlLy LoVe tO bE aBlE tO MaKe ThE StOrY bEtTeR…!**

**hAvE aNy SuGgEsTiOnS? tElL mE tHoSe ToO!**

It's day two of fight training today, one of us will be having spars against the initiates individually while the other walks around improving technique. When we tell the initiates what's happening, we see the grins on their faces. It may be for training purposes but I can tell they are looking forward to seeing how Tobias and I fight.

I finish explaining the day and call out, "who wants to go first?"

"Yes!" Jet's hand shoots up and the grin on his face widens, "Four! Get in the ring!" He jokes and Tobias rolls his eyes, a smile peaking at the corner of his lips. We like Jet.

"Alright, everyone else, find a punching bag and start practicing!" I've already began walking to the punching bags, which are a few meters away from the ring. I haven't seen Tobias fight in a while, even if it is just sparring, and I'm quite excited.

The initiates start throwing punches and elbows and knees and feet and I can't tear my eyes away from the spar. Tobias wears a cotton t-shirt which clearly defines his muscles. If this was a real fight, it's clear Tobias would win. He has greater muscle, skill, technique and practice but I think Jet will go well in his fights.

I turn back to the initiates and notice Asta. She too has been watching Tobias and Jet spar. I laugh in my head and walk over to her. "You know, if you plan on winning the fights tomorrow you might want to work on your own techniques?"

I hear Asta laugh sarcastically and watch as Tobias flips Jet onto the floor, pinning him to the ground. He then throws soft punches into his sides before explaining something to Jet. Tobias gets up and reaches a hand to Jet, who accepts.

"Who's next?" Tobias calls to the initiates and Asta grabs my arm.

"We are!" She smirks as she drags me into the ring.

I receive a wink from Tobias as I'm dragged into the ring, "go for it Six."

"Go shine, Asta." Jet taps Asta as he whispers to her and I squeeze her arm.

"Thanks Jet!" Once we are in the ring I receive a glare that soon turns into a smile, "you're on!"

We raise our hands and start. Soft, slow movements are unleashed. Asta throws a punch into my side but I block it with my arm and launch my knee into her stomach. She aims a punch at my cheek and I duck, throwing my elbow into her chin on my way up. I wrap my foot around her ankles and pull back. Asta falls to the floor on her back and I copy the movement Tobias made for Jet. I pin her to the ground, a leg on either side of her waist. Soft punches are thrown into her torso and eventually we both end up laughing.

"K, you win six!" She laughs as we get up. It may have been a spar, but I have to prove myself to the initiates one at a time.

Next up is Alex who chooses to spar with Tobias. Tobias wins of course. The next spar was against Sasha and I. Our spar was over quickly and ended with Sasha on the ground. Laura too chose to go against me, then Luke against Tobias. Tobias and I both won. Finally, it's Kiara's turn. She chooses to spar against Tobias and I'm shocked. I thought she would have chosen me. I thought she would have snapped at any opportunity to fight with me. I was wrong.

"What's she up to?" Tobias takes my hand and whispers into my ear. His touch makes me nervous even now that I'm used to it. I can't think of a single reason she wouldn't have chosen me.

"Oh my god Kiara! Get over it? Four will never like you!" Sasha snaps and that's when I realise it.

I squeeze Tobias' hand, "she's trying to get close to you."

I hear him mutter something under his breath as he walks into the ring.

"Four?" I'm confused. Why is he doing this?

"It's all good Six, I'll be with you in a minute, gorgeous." Did he just call me gorgeous? Before entering the ring he turns to wink at me, "you're beautiful, you know that right?"

All eyes are on the ring now. Kiara enters and straight away her body language changes.

"Hey Four, babey," she moves her hair to one side and touches the corner of her lip as if trying to be seductive. Key word: trying.

"Hurry up Kiara." Tobias snaps and a sense of gratitude goes through me.

"Okay," she smiles to him as she raises her hand in front of her body.

In one swift movement, Tobias places his hands around her waist and flips her over his shoulder and onto the ground. Not in the romantic and cheeky way he would if it were me, but in a way that says 'don't mess with me.' He says something to her that I don't hear before getting up and leaving her there, on the floor, winded.

Jet moves to high five Tobias, only to receive a punch in the arm, as he makes his way back to me. He presses his lips to mine and my hands automatically find their place in his hair.

"Ahem," Alex clears his throat and as Tobias pulls away, I notice Asta pushing him giggling.

"That's the end of training for today!" I call as the taste of Tobias' lips on mine slowly fades away.

"Be here tomorrow, same time for the fights."

Kiara leaves straight away and Laura runs quickly behind. Laura is slowly becoming Kiara's little minion, which is a shame; I think Laura's nice.

Luke and Sasha go to walk out but stop on their way out, "you coming Alex?"

Alex looks to Asta who smiles and nods. He runs to catch up with them, leaving behind his twin.

"Wanna go get something to eat?" Jet asks Asta. She agrees and before long Tobias and I have the room tidied and we're alone.

"Wanna go get something to eat?" He smirks to me, imitating Jet, and I laugh as I take his hand. We head down to the dining hall and meet up with our group.

Marlene is the first to see us walk in, "hey guys!"

"Heeeeey!" Zeke calls out to us and we take our seats.

Christina slides a tray across with two servings of food: one for me, one for Tobias. We both say thank you as we start eating.

"How's training?" Will asks and Christina merely nods.

Uriah answers for her, "most are looking good, the fights will get rid of the puny ones though. They start tomorrow."

"And you guys?" Marlene looks to me.

"I can't wait for Kiara to become factionless," I sigh shaking my head. Now I say it out loud, I realise how awful it sounds but I don't take it back.

"How do you know she will be?" Asta asks. Her and Jet are standing right behind Tobias and I.

"Can we sit here?" Jet indicates to the seats next to me and I nod.

"You can get a good idea of who is truly Dauntless," Christina says and I'm thanking her in my head. "Some people just don't have the natural bravery needed to overcome cowardice. That's what we find out in the later stages of initiation."

"Ok." Asta nods. It's clear she wants to ask more questions but we didn't tell her earlier so it's obvious we won't tell her now.

"And what are your thoughts about us?" Jet smirks to Tobias jokingly but I know he secretly wants to know the truth.

With one quick glance behind him he leans in, "you, Jet, will most certainly be factionless."

Jet feigns a look of hurt before reaching across me and punching him in the arm. When Tobias reciprocates and a mild catfight erupts around me, I butt in.

"Umm ladies! I am here ya know!" I laugh and hi-5 Asta. After a few seconds, the rest of our group is laughing and I forget all about the fights to come.


	27. Visiting Day

**tHiS cHaPtEr Is A bIt SkEtChY sOrRy BuT i DiDn'T kNoW hOw ElSe To WrItE iT – hOpE iT's NoT tOo BaD!**

I walk through the pit, it's livelier than normal. Bursts of colour add to the usual black appearance. I notice blue and white and red and yellow. It's visiting day.

Tobias and I walk shoulder to shoulder; at least it would be if I were taller. The Dauntless seem more composed today, less unnecessary danger – nobody running along the chasm or trying to climb the walls of the pit, laughing as they fall to the ground.

"Four! Six!" Our heads turn in unison as Christina and Uriah come over to us.

"Hey guys!" The usual grin paints Uriah's face and I feel chirpier just seeing him smiling.

"Hey," I say listening to the mixed conversations around us.

"I wonder if this is what we looked like last year," Christina releases a small laugh, "out of place and drained of energy!"

"It was," I turn to Tobias who nods. The corners of his lips turn up slightly but then relax like normal.

"I'm going to see some of the initiates, don't do anything naughty while I'm gone!" Christina leaves with a wink and Uriah snickers as he too walks off.

"Yes mum," I mumble under my breath.

Tobias and I hang around the pit for a while when we are called to again.

"Hey guys!" Asta waves to us from her place about twenty meters away from us. Alex peers around a few people until his eyes find us. He smiles, waving for us to come over and we do. The twins stand with an older man and woman, I assume their parents.

"Hello," the woman smiles and extends a hand to me, the Amity have always been considerate of other factions' cultures. "I'm Jayne!" I shake the hand, making sure I don't squeeze too hard.

"And I'm Brett!" The man holds his hand to Tobias.

"I'm Four, and this is Six." Tobias indicates to me and I smile, "these two are doing very well in initiation."

"Is it as brutal as they thought? The training, I mean. They've been training since they were little and I just hoped they were overreacting. Us Amity don't like to fight... You know?" The man looks from me to Tobias to Asta to Alex and back again.

Asta looks uncomfortable and Alex speaks quickly, "no! Dad, it's not brutal!"

"Then why did you have those guns then? I'm sorry, I just want you two to be ok." The man, their dad, counters.

Asta takes a small step forward, "for protection dad!"

"Well we hope you're enjoying yourselves!" Their mother says sincerely. The Amity are always so airy.

After a few moments longer Tobias and I say goodbye to Asta and Alex's parents. We begin to head towards the chasm when a different voice calls us.

"Guys, this is Four and this is Six. They're my instructors for initiation." Jet smiles as he introduces us. I haven't really noticed before, but he is quite attractive. He has short, light brown hair and a smile that could melt hearts. He is a lot like Uriah in some ways, but unlike Uriah, Jet has the ability to focus.

Next to him stands two girls, both dressed from head to toe in blue. One girl looks about our age and the other looks around twelve.

"Hi," "hey," Tobias and I greet.

"Hello," the younger girl smiles, "I'm Piper."

"I'm Tara, hi," the older girl smiles as well.

"Are you two Jet's sisters?"

"Yeah we are." The older girl, Tara answers.

It's silent while we try to think of something to say. Tara compliments the Dauntless compound and Jet scoffs, "oh please Taz, I know you hate Dauntless."

Stuttering, she tries to refute it but I cut her off, "it's not as harsh as it seems, especially after initiation. The lifestyle we have here, it doesn't seem desirable but I can't imagine choosing any different."

She seems to think about this, taking in all she can from her surroundings. Piper, the younger girl, lifts her chin, "as long as there are no Divergents here I-"

Jet and Tara both reach for their sister immediately, trying to quiet her. Tobias and I look around, making sure nobody overheard and could spin the conversation. They can't find out about us and the only way can protect others is if we can protect ourselves.

Jet scolds Piper and her eyes begin to water, "sorry Jet… It's just that Erudite are still-"

"I know about Erudite," Jet sighs in exasperation, "but now I also know about Dauntless. You can't believe everything they tell you there!"

With a quick glare from his older sister, Jet is silenced. We stand without talking, this time even Piper knows not to talk.

"It was nice meeting you," Tobias says and we walk off. We hang near the chasm for a while before heading back to our apartment. I notice everyone's parents came this year. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.


	28. Let the Fights Begin!

**tHaNk YoU fOr AlL tHe InPuT! lOvInG sOmE oF yOuR rEqUeStS sO i'Ll AdD tHeM iN!**

"Since there are an odd number of you, one of you will not be fighting in each round." I watch as Tobias paces back and forth in front of the crowd of initiates. I lose myself in his movements. "Six?" I wake from my daze with a shake of my head and look to Tobias, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah?"

"Board?"

"Oh yeah, right, of course, sorry." I flip the blackboard around for the initiates to see. On it is the details of today's fights: who's fighting who and in what order. The first round of fights is paired by initial skill, the next rounds are paired by wins and losses. Today's order:

Jet v Alex

Sasha v Kiara

Asta v Luke

Laura is the one sitting out of the fights today.

After giving the initiates a minute to look at the board, it's time for the fights to start. "Ok, Jet, Alex, get in the ring!"

Tobias and I move to one side of the ring and the initiates gather around to watch the fights. Asta looks slightly pale and as Alex passes her she whispers something to him which receives a nod and a smile.

"Whenever you're ready!" Tobias stands, arms crossed. Jet and Alex both raise their hands ready in defense. Jet launches a solid punch into the side of Alex's stomach and Alex winds a kick into Jet's side. Back and forth, back and forth. Both boys already talented fighters. Alex throws a punch at Jet's head and Jet drops to the ground, knocked out.

"Alex wins." I circle his name on the blackboard and when I turn back he and Asta are crouched beside Jet trying to wake him up.

Tobias is looking over Jet making sure nothing looks too bad. If it does, he doesn't say anything so I assume Jet's fine. Well, as fine as you can be after being knocked out, anyways. At that moment, Jet lifts his hand and rubs his eyes. He sits up in a daze and curves his lips into a partial smile.

A croak escapes his mouth, "thanks for that Alex." Alex laughs and reaches his hand to Jet.

Tobias throws him an icepack and calls Kiara and Sasha into the ring.

"Shouldn't we take him to the infirmary?" I whisper as the girls make their way forward.

Tobias turns to me and grabs my shoulder, "we're Dauntless Tris, not Abnegation. The initiates need to toughen up and this is how we teach that to them." I watch as Asta inspects Jet's jaw, removing the ice pack momentarily. It's slightly bruised already. "If you want, I can tell the transfers you've got to work for the next week?"

I harden my gaze and yell at Kiara and Sasha to start fighting.

Kiara's punches are sloppy but she does get a few hits in. Sasha, however, has trained quite hard and is a better fighter than Kiara. This fight drags on for longer than the last one and I'm almost wishing for it to end. It's not particularly brutal but it's being dragged out too long. Then, Sasha aims a kick into Kiara's side. Kiara grabs Sasha's foot and pushes her onto the floor. Before she can pin Sasha down, Sasha has grabbed the collar of Kiara's shirt and has dragged her down too. Sasha flips on top of her and hits until she's out cold.

"Sasha wins." I circle Sasha's name and realize again how horrible this is. It's better than Eric controlling the fights though…

Luke drags Kiara to the edge of the room and Laura sits by her side, waiting for her to wake up.

Asta and Luke enter the ring, both looking determined and fierce. Luke throws the first punch to Asta's shoulder. She grabs his hand and twists it so that Luke is facing away from her. Before he can process what's happening, Asta kicks the back of his knees and he drops to the ground. She releases her grip on his arm and raises her own arms to protect her face. Luke recovers quickly and rises to his feet. He pretends to throw another punch at Asta, so she moves to block it, but instead he launches his leg into her side. She's pushed a few steps to her left but she runs straight back at Luke. He aims a punch to her face and Asta ducks and throws her elbow into his abdomen. Luke curls over and Asta hooks her foot around his ankles. In one swift motion, she pulls her foot in and Luke is on the floor. After a single punche, Luke is out.

I circle Asta's name and try to hide the shock on my face. It wasn't the fact that she won; I expected that, it was how easily and quickly she won. She's amazing?!

Luke starts to regain consciousness as Tobias wraps one of Luke's arms around his shoulders.

"Uh Alex give me a hand?" Tobias asks and Alex does the same with the other arm. They drag him next to Kiara and Laura.

Tobias shouts, "meet us at the tracks at 8:15 tomorrow!"


	29. To the Fence

**cHaNgEd ThInGs Up In ThIs ChApTeR sO lEt Me KnOw YoUr ThOuGhTs – ReViEw!**

I feel the warmth of his hand in mine as we wait. The familiar sound of sneakers against ground creeps into my ears and even without looking I know it's the initiates. My eyes are focused on the tracks where the train will come from and out of the corner of my eye I see that so are Tobias'.

I turn my head and look up to him. His deep, blue eyes sparkle in the sun. He looks away from the train tracks and into my eyes.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" He whispers sternly, eyes not moving from mine and I feel the same bolt of electricity whip through me as I always do with him.

"You know that's not true," I say to him but still smile.

"I believe you are," is all he says. Instead, he squeezes my hand and looks over my shoulder. I turn around to see what he's looking at and recognise the black shape in the distance as a train. When the front of the train reaches us, Tobias and I move into a sprint. "Fifth car!" I count the cars in my head and we sprint alongside one of them. My feet pound against the floor with each step. "Now!" We jump sideways into the train, our hands never losing grip. Tobias lands in the train with ease and uses his free hand to pull me in. I collapse on top of him and give him a quick kiss on the cheek before rising to my feet.

I watch the initiates. They sprint alongside the train and Alex is the first to get in. Asta, and then Luke, who I notice has a large, purple bruise covering the entire left side of his face, follow him closely. After Luke, I notice Kiara and Laura jump but they move to the back of the train and I ignore them. Jet gets in the train with minimal struggling and when Sasha tries to get in he and Asta help her.

Once all the initiates are in the train Tobias and I move to the door. We each hold a handle on the side of the car and lean half out of it watching the city go by.

"Where are we going?" Alex stands between Tobias and I. Neither of us turns to look at him or each other when we answer, "to the fence."

A while later, after the Dauntless Compound is well out of site we sit down, leaning against the carriage wall. My leg presses against his and I feel comforted by his touch alone. The occasional whisper fills the carriage but apart from that it's silent.

I sigh, "you can talk you know?" After a minute or two the noise level slowly rises and there are three or four conversations going on.

"Who do you think they are this year?" Tobias looks over the initiates. I turn to him, eyebrow raised. What does he mean by 'they'? He scans the carriage quickly again as if to make sure nobody is listening before finally looking at me. "The Divergents, Tris?"

"Oh!" I say with a nod, "I don't know." I think for a long moment before speaking again, "I honestly don't know. Any you think?"

"It's hard to tell for sure until the simulations."

"What's this about simulations?" Jet shuffles over next to Tobias until he is as close to him as I am.

Asta follows and I notice how close she's sitting to Jet, "simulations?"

"Yeah! Four said something about a simulation!" Jet tells Asta and within seconds every initiate in the carriage is looking our way intently, waiting for an explanation. The occasional whisper of 'simulation?' is heard and eventually bottles down to silence.

"Keep to yourselves and stop listening to mine and Six's conversations unless you plan on being pushed out of the train."

I have to bite the inside of my mouth to stop myself from smirking. A cool breeze bites at my skin and I shuffle into Tobias' shoulder for warmth. I rest my head on his shoulder and focus my attention on the world passing by the train.

It isn't too long later that I sit upright. "Four."

"Got it."

I stand and walk over to the edge of the car. My feet hang half in and half out of the train and I bend my knees and jump. I run three steps to get my balance and then turn back to the train. Jet, Alex and Asta jump out and when Asta stumbles, Jet grabs her waist to steady her. Once she's stable, Jet tears his hands back to his sides and red creeps into his face.

"Asta! C'mon!" Alex is walking towards me. She smiles to Jet before running up and joining her brother. By the time they reach me, I notice the rest of the initiates are off the train and slowly moving over to where I stand. A shadow creeps over me, speaking before I can.

"Only ten initiates will become members. The bottom five members will likely end up working as a fence guard." The voice belongs to Tobias and I remember hearing this same thing last year.

I end up finishing off, "your days will be spent here! The current guards will tell you that it's not as bad as it seems, but, well, we wouldn't know."

"Where do you work, then?" Alex shifts his weight as her perks up.

Tobias answers for both of us, "I'm a Dauntless leader and Six collects intelligence."

Now Jet steps forward intrigued, "so where did you come in your initiation then?"

At the same time we answer, "first." Some of the initiates looked surprised, while others give a knowing smile like they've thought that all along.

In that moment, an Amity truck drives past our group and stops at the fence while Dauntless guards check through it. A woman in the drivers seat hands over papers and a young man jumps out from the back.

I walk away from our initiate group and towards the Amity truck. I feel dozens of eyes burn through me but I don't turn around; acting like I don't notice. "Robert!" I call when I'm close to the truck. Robert turns around and a grin creeps across his face.

"Beatrice!" His arms twitch as if he were about to hug me but instead he holds out a hand. The Amity are always conscious of the other factions' customs. "How have you been? You look so much better than you were last year."

"I've been good. How have you been?"

"Happy. I really like Amity, although I do miss Abnegation at times." A flash of longing appears on his face but after a second or two, it's replaced with a smile. "Are they the new initiates?"

"Sure are!" I smile, showing genuine excitement at being able to tell someone, "I'm an instructor this year. Which reminds me, I better go… We will all have to get together to catch up sometime?"

Robert nods, "talk to you later, Beatrice!"

With that Robert turns around and jumps into the truck. He reaches his arm out the window and waves to me as they drive through the fence. I'm tempted to sprint after him so I can see what on the other side but I know if I did, the guards would stop me and the initiates would look down upon me. Instead, I hurry back to them.

"How do you know Robert?" Asta asks me when I return to the group and I have no desire to tell the initiates I'm from Abnegation.

"Shut up, Amity." I hear her mutter an apology and some chuckles around her but I'm not really paying attention, instead, I walk back to Tobias and we finish our excursion before heading back to Dauntless.


	30. Round 2 of Fights

**pLeAsE rEvIeW + fAvOuRiTe + FoLlOw **

**ThAnKs So MuCh FoR tHe SuPpOrt!**

"Hurry it up!" Tobias yells to the initiates as they enter the training room. They're close to being late today and I got excited, thinking we could exercise some punishments but when Luke entered the training room first, most of my hope diminished. Laura enters last, closely following Kiara, and closes the door behind her. Once they are all gathered around, I flip over the blackboard that displays today's fight order.

Jet v Sasha

Kiara v Luke

Laura v Asta

Alex is the one without an opponent today.

We crowd around the ring and I order Jet and Sasha to enter it, ready to start their fight. Jet punches Sasha's shoulder and after recovering her ground, she launches her leg into his waist. He wasn't prepared for the impact and stumbles but quickly turns back around and dives into Sasha, pushing her to he ground. From here in, it's messy. The two roll on the floor - arms and legs flying and slamming everywhere. By the looks of it, Sasha's nose is bleeding. That would explain the smears of blood on the floor. Sasha jumps onto Jet but he pulls his elbow back and launches it into her chest. He then rolls over and sends his fist into her temple. Her eyes, a glittering green, roll back into her head as it flops to the side making Jet the winner.

"Jet won." I circle his name and I wonder if he did win. Do you ever take pride in beating another person so brutally? Is that bravery? But he had no choice. Not if he wants to pass initiation. Jet crouches beside Sasha and slides his arms under her, cradling the unconscious girl in his arms. With the movement, she blinks her dazed eyes and grabs her head as if trying to carry it's weight. When she insists she's okay, Jet puts Sasha down so she can stand by herself. Stumbling, she makes her way over to the others and stands tall.

"Alright, Kiara and Luke, fight!" Tobias calls out to them sternly.

Both Luke and Kiara are weak fighters. All technique and skill is missing from their fight. Sloppy punches are thrown and dodgy kicks hit. The blows would still hurt, but not as much as they would if they were striking with the right techniques. After a painfully long fight, Luke ends up winning. Kiara didn't pass out, she conceded. I meet Tobias' eyes and we both know what it means; her score will drop for showing a lack of bravery.

Luke looks like he's about to collapse as well so I doubt he would've lasted much longer. I circle 'Luke' on the blackboard. Alex runs to help Kiara and Luke sit down to the side of the room, he's a very nice guy - his Amity side, although neutralised, still showing.

I look to Laura who has to face Asta next. She will surely lose and being an Erudite transfer, she would know that. It's obvious she's trying to be brave, and she's doing a rather good job at it. I would've fell for her façade if it wasn't for the slight tremble in her hands or the pale colour her skin is slowly going. I wouldn't have noticed.

Laura and Asta enter the ring and raise their arms in a defense position. Asta launches a strong kick into Laura's knees and Laura goes tumbling to the ground. Not even a second after, Asta sits on top of her raining down punch after punch. Laura let's out a scream and it doesn't take long until she's knocked out. It was clear she purposely made the fight quick, trying to minimize the pain Laura had to face. With a guilty look, Asta tries to wake Laura out of her unconscious state.

Asta wins again and I circle her name. Alex lifts Laura up and smiles to Asta as a sign of congratulations. She half smiles back but it's obvious she's not exactly happy. He tells us he is taking her back to the Transfer Dormitories to rest.

"Alex, before you go!" I shout out before he leaves.

"Yeah?" He turns back, eye brows raised. Laura is held easily in his arms and even as he stands there he holds her weight with ease.

"You'll all get the day off tomorrow. Take the time to rest up - you'll need it." I tell all the initiates before dismissing them.

Once the initiates leave, I lean against Tobias for support and sigh into his arm.

"Tired?"

I nod.

"Have a sleep in tomorrow."

"Mmkay," my voice is muffled through his shirt.

"Oh and one more thing!"

I glare up at him and wait for him to finish.

"Uriah invited us over to his place tomorrow for Candor or Dauntless. I told him you would want rest but he insisted and said something about having fun..." I laugh as I watch gears turn inside Tobias' mind. "I can tell him we can't make it?"

"No I'd love to," I smile, "Candor or Dauntless it is!"


	31. Leaders Meeting

**oK sO i KnOw I sAiD tHis ChApTeR wOuLd Be CaNdOr Or DaUnTlEsS bUt… I lIeD… tHe NeXt ChApTeR wIlL bE tHoUgH! tHeRe'S jUsT sOmE sTuFf ThAt HaS tO hApPeN fIrSt – DoN't HaTe Me!**

TRIS' POV

I wake early this morning. I was expecting to sleep in, even for a little bit longer, but no. I blink a few times trying to wash away the sleep and see Tobias pulling a shirt on. Tattoos dominating his back, he is very muscular.

"Where are you off to?" I ask and try to muffle the tired croaks in my voice.

"Turns out I have to attend a meeting today with other faction leaders." I groan to this. He's leaving me to play Candor or Dauntless without him? "Don't worry," he gives a slight laugh, "I will be done by noon. Plenty of time to get ready for Uriah's."

I slide my feet out of the bed until they reach the cool floor. From my draws, I pull out clothes for today: a black shirt that I tie to the side and black skinny jeans. I take them into the washroom to get changed and brush my hair out. Soon enough, I walk back into our bedroom.

"See ya Tris," Tobias kisses my cheek.

"No breakfast?" I ask.

"No time. I'm already running later than I would like." With that, Tobias leaves. I head down to breakfast by myself and tell the group about his meeting.

"Ok so we will meet up after lunch?" Uriah asks and we nod.

TOBIAS' POV

I'm late. Not by much, I will still be there early but later than I wanted to be. I only found out last night when Max sent one of his mindless Dauntless soldiers to tell me. By then, it was too late to tell Tris so I was just going to leave her a note this morning.

"Hey." We are in Meeting Room 4. There is a large table set up, surrounded with chairs. Two leaders from each faction will be attending the meeting, and from Dauntless it's Max and I.

"Four," Max turns his head toward me as I enter, "the Amity leaders, or whatever they call them there, have just arrived. Can you go down and wait until the other faction leaders arrive? I think they'll need somebody to escort them down here."

I simply nod and make my way down to the entrance. It's not hard to spot the Amity leaders. My eyes almost have to adjust when I see the brightness of their red and yellow clothes. Dauntless is not a place where bright colours belong.

"Hello, I'm Johanna and this is Chloe," Johanna smiles to me as she reaches out her hand. I shake it, though it feels uncomfortable. My grip is too tight to start with so I loosen it slightly and end up holding her hand for too long. She just smiles, acting like she doesn't notice but I don't think I'll ever figure out the Dauntless custom. I recognise Johanna Reyes. She is Amity's leader and frequently met with my father in Abnegation whilst I was shut in our coat closet, peering at them through the gap down the side. I don't know the girl next to her, Chloe.

"Four." I say as I shake Chloe's hand, this time in a more normal manner. I see a glimpse of blue in the corner of my eye and turn to welcome the Erudite leaders. I don't recognise either of them and I don't make a point to remember either of their names. Instead, I take note to do the opposite and avoid Erudite.

We stand in silence waiting for the other leaders. I lean against a wall waiting. From around the corner, two figures dressed in grey appear. I know them both. One is a man that lived down the street from my Abnegation house, a man named Scott, and the other is Andrew Prior. Tris' father.

He blinks a few times when he sees me as if trying to figure out if it was really me. "Four," I say quickly, probably too quickly.

"This is Scott and I'm Andrew," says, "thank you for having this meeting in the Dauntless compound." I merely nod as he bows his head to me and we remain in silence. I can feel him watching me, analyzing me, and harden my face as I stare straight ahead. Not long later, the Candor representatives, neither of which I know, arrive and I lead everyone down to the Meeting Room.

The meeting was quite interesting. It was around the issue of supply division. The Erudite were complaining that the Abnegation were taking an unfair share. They basically said the Abnegation were being selfish. Hah. Andrew Prior kept looking at me and I avoided his eyes as much as possible. I am no longer Tobias, only with Tris.

The faction leaders are staying overnight. The Candor said something about the Dauntless compound being too long a distance away so Max is giving a room per faction overnight.

I walk down to the dining hall, faction leaders in tow, and when I arrive I tell them to get some lunch. All eyes in the room are watching the random dashes of colour and I move quickly to our table, distancing myself. Our group has already started eating and Tris got some extra lunch for me.

"Thank you." I say sitting down.

"Hey Leader," Christina smiles and I just look at her. She just laughs and turns to Uriah. "We playing tonight?"

"Damn straight!" Uriah smiles and I don't think he could have a serious conversation if it killed him.

Shauna asks, "whose place?"

"Mine?" Uriah asks the question like the answers obvious. He runs his hand through his hair, smoothing it down in a cocky manner.

"We played at Zeke's apartment last time. Let's move it away from your family shall we?" Will states it as a question and Uriah just mutters "pansycake."

"What about Tris' apartment?" Christina smirks.

I notice Tris scowl at her, "why ours?" She takes my hand under the table and I squeeze.

"Yes!" Marlene cuts in now, "I haven't been to your apartment in ages!"

Zeke says the same thing and I throw a piece of bread at him, "I know for a fact you were there the other day. I can prove it with the pile of work you left for me!" He laughs as he takes a bite of the bread.

I look into Tris' eyes, "are you ok with that?" She nods. "Alright. Come over in an hour?"

"Sure," Christina smiles and we all agree.


	32. Another Game of Candor or Dauntless

**iTs hArdEr To AdD dEtAiL tO tHe CaNdOr + DaUnTlEsS cHaPtErS – i DoN't KnOw It JuSt Is! **

**LeT mE kNoW wHaT yOu ThInK oF iT aNd I cAn EdIt It If ThAt'S wHaT yOu WaNt **

TRIS' POV

"I'm starting, I never start!" Marlene says as we sit in a circle on Tobias and my apartment's floor. "Hmmmm" she looks around the circle. Zeke, Uriah, Will, Christina, Shauna, Marlene, Tobias and I are all playing. Zeke was going to invite some others but mustn't have gotten around to it. "Uriah!"

"Dauntless," he smiles to her.

"Go find Max and hug him!"

"Ok, who's coming with me?" Uriah stands and Marlene follows. We wait until they return and Uriah looks quite smug.

Marlene says, "Max was walking with a Stiff and Uriah just went up and hugged both of them!"

"The Stiff must've gone so stiff!" Uriah laughs at his own joke and the rest of us crack up laughing at him.

I laugh slightly but then turn to Tobias, "Abnegation's here?"

He nods, "a few leaders are here for the meeting. One of which is your father." He whispers the last part and I am grateful. My father's here. I will go and visit him tonight if I can. Part of me wants to see him and part of me wants to hide what I have become.

"Ok. Candor or Dauntless Christina?"

"Dauntless."

"Let Zeke do your hair and makeup." He smiles and Christina laughs. She looks to Zeke and takes her shirt off, I don't blame her.

"Shauna?"

"Candor."

Christina pinches her lips together and looks around as if searching for a question. "How long have you liked Zeke for?" When I look back to Shauna she bites her lips and looks to Zeke awkwardly.

"Umm haha... I don't actually know sorry! Four - Candor or Dauntless?"

"Candor," Tobias nods.

"Although I know you won't tell me, it's worth a try. What's your name?" Before Shauna could finish saying 'try' Tobias had already taken his shirt off.

"Zeke?" He asks and the smile on Zeke's face disappears.

"Uhh. Dauntless!"

"Hmm," Tobias nods a few times thinking it through. "Walk through the pit holding Uriah's hand."

Uriah immediately shakes his head and Zeke just laughs while taking off his shirt.

"Will, you know the question!" Zeke asks.

"Dauntless." Will looks smug and a large grin wipes across Zeke's face. O oh, this probably won't be good, judging by his dares in the past.

Zeke begins, "you have to put 10 ice cubes down your pants and leave them there for 30 seconds."

Uriah snickers something about Will being a pansycake and the rest of us just laugh. I notice Will going a shade of pink.

"Fine." He says and I have to blink a few times to make sure I heard correctly.

"Will?" Christina raises her eyebrows to him. Zeke gets up and looks into our freezer.

He returns a minute later with a tray of ice cubes. Zeke comes over to our apartment quite often, as much as Christina does, so he knew where they were and I don't have an issue with it.

"Ready?" Zeke snickers and pours the ice cubes down Will's pants. After a few seconds Will is jumping around the room. About 10 seconds into the dare he takes off his pants and crouches over to recover from the ice.

"You failed the dare!" Uriah calls.

"You try doing it!" Marlene pokes him and he pokes her back. After a moment, Will sits back down leaving his pants off because he didn't complete the dare. I think it could also be because the ice cubes are melting and his pants are wet now anyway.

"Tris, Candor or Dauntless?" He says eventually.

I think for a moment before saying, "Candor."

"Ok. Um. When did you and Four start dating?"

"It happened kind of gradually..." I start and think for a moment. When did we actually start dating? "A bit after Visiting Day, I guess."

It's silent for a moment as the group just nod and Tobias takes my hand in his.

"Zeke, Candor or -"

"Dauntless!" Zeke says before I can even finish.

"Have a drinking competition with Uriah. Whoever finishes ten shots first wins."

Zeke and Uriah both look at each other and smile. Zeke goes over to a cupboard and takes out a bottle of alcohol. Tobias and I don't drink much but Zeke bought it over here a while ago. He pours out twenty shots.

"Ok 3.2.1. Drink!" Christina calls and the boys go. They both have about half of the shots before slowing down. Zeke drinks the last of his shots and Uriah is on his ninth. Uriah quickly runs into the bathroom and Zeke clutches the table for support.

"Woo!" He calls out laughing and Uriah returns. We all sit back down momentarily and return to the game.

"I am going instead of Zeke because well... Look at him?" Shauna laughs and I look at Zeke. He is lying down playing with something on the floor.

"Marlene?"

"Dauntless!"

"Ok you have to go find one of the leaders from a different faction and kiss them." Shauna smiles and Marlene thinks for a moment before taking her shirt off.

Marlene looks around the group, "Four, Candor or Dauntless?"

"Dauntless," Tobias answers.

"Ok, you have to go down to the middle of the pit and kiss Tris. Full out. In front of everyone."

I look at Tobias. He has taken his shirt off but not his jeans. I expect him to take those off to this dare but instead he stands and pulls me up with him. Christina, Marlene and Tobias pull their shirts back on and Christina and Marlene come down and watch. Tobias and I walk hand in hand to the pit. When we are in the middle, he turns back to look to Marlene.

"Here?" He calls and she nods.

He places one hand on my waist and the other on the side of my cheek. I stretch up and he places his lips to mine. Butterflies scatter in my stomach like an explosion of sparks. I can feel some eyes on us which surprises me because we're in Dauntless. After what feels like minutes but must have only been a few seconds I hear a word I thought I would never hear again.

"Beatrice?!"


	33. Beatrice!

**lEt Me KnOw WhAt YoU tHiNk AnD tHaNk YoU sO mUcH fOr ThE rEvIeWs!**

"Beatrice?!"

I tear myself away from Tobias and my hands instinctively move to pat down my hair and straighten my clothes. My eyes dart around the pit looking for the source of the voice that I know so well. My father.

"Dad!" I say. I try to stop the element in my voice that makes me sound like I was caught doing something but I can't because, well, I was caught doing something.

I don't know what he'll say to me. I haven't seen him since Caleb and I switched factions. I imagine him lying awake at night, as I often do. I think of the Erudite articles and my tattoos and dark eyes and wish I could be anywhere but here.

"Beatrice? What are you doing here?! With one of he Dauntless Leaders? Doing that!" My father is clearly distraught although he is trying to hide it behind his Abnegation self.

"This is my faction now Dad." I state the obvious as I step towards him still trying to calm my heart rate as if I was just in a fear simulation, "I'm not in Abnegation anymore."

"I figure that out." A blunt statement causing me to remember my mother labeling him as 'selfish' in the month that I'd left. I still wasn't expecting to see you this close with a man," my father looks over my shoulder at Tobias. "My gosh!"

"Dad...?" I say slowly but his eyes are locked on Tobias.

"I knew I recognised him! Is that Tob-"

"DAD!" I quickly shout over the top of him. By now, Christina and Marlene have walked over to us. The last thing I want is to ruin Tobias' secret. "Yes, it's him. Can we go back to my apartment and talk about this there?" He just nods apprehensively and keeps his eyes on Tobias.

I show him to our apartment. Tobias and I sit on the couch and my father sits on a lounge chair. His Abnegation grey clothes look out of place in Dauntless but not so much in our apartment where we've gathered odd trinkets of grey to remind us of where we came from.

"You're Tobias Eaton!" My father blurts as he sits down.

"Yes sir." Tobias just nods. "Please, call me Four. Everybody else does."

"Ok. Four." The use of the word does not suit my father, it looks foreign on his lips. "You're dating my daughter?"

"Yes sir."

I haven't said anything so far. We are silent for a few minutes and I watch my father as he looks around the apartment, sizing it up. It feels odd to see his display of curiosity. His eyes turn back to mine. "You live with him?"

"I do." I respond after taking a deep breath. I do not want to disappoint but my father just nods.

"Treat her well, Tobias. I mean, Four."

"I will."

We sit in silence for a few minutes before it is too much for me to bear, "how long are you staying for?"

"Just overnight. There was a last minute meeting which I'm sure you're aware of and the Dauntless have given us apartments for the night."

"Ok," I nod.

"I better get going. It was good seeing you Beatrice. Four."

"Dad, do one thing for me," I start, "have a piece of the Dauntless Cake. For me. Please. You'll love it." I smile to him. To my surprise, he smiles back and nods to me.

"Ok sweetie." That was not what I expected.

Once he leaves the room I turn back to Tobias and release a breath I hadn't realised I was holding in. After a few seconds Tobias upstarts laughing and I join in. When I thought about meeting up with my father, this was certainly not how I imagined it going.


	34. Round 3 Begins

**kEeP rEaDiNg InItIaTeS! **

**hOpE yOu LiKe ThE fAnFiC**

That night in the dining hall I tell our group what happened. After seeing my father, they thought it best to go back to their own apartments. When we tell them, we don't mention the part about Tobias' real name. Our group seems to find it quite funny and I can't help but laugh along too even though part of me feels like I have betrayed him.

When we are about halfway through our meals the other faction leaders come in and the noise level moves to a whisper. Everybody watches the bright smudges of colour move through the shadows of the Dauntless compound. I watch my father. He takes a hamburger from the front and carries it to where he and Scott, the other Abnegation leader, are sitting. I make my way over there and sit beside them.

"Have you ever had a hamburger?"

Scott looks to me, "is that what they are?"

"Yes," I smile, "have you, Dad?"

"Yes I have."

"Wait. What?" I thought he was Abnegation born. Never have I considered the opportunity of otherwise.

"I travel to every faction Beatrice. I'm a leader." He says the words as informative, not condescending.

"Oh right yeah sorry. Anyways, I will visit you sometime Dad, in Abnegation. Goodbye." I return to sit with my group and after we finish eating we head off. Before I leave the dining hall, I look back and see my dad picking up a piece of Dauntless Cake. He looks over to me and half smiles as if to say 'I promised'. That one act has made my night.

"Alright listen up!" I call over the early morning chatter of initiates. "Today is the third and final round of fights. The person on the bottom of the ranking will become factionless and the rest of you will move on to the next stage of training."

"What happens in that stage?" Asta cuts in, still trying to ease the answer out of us.

"Zip it. Amity." I have to stop myself from smiling. Asta smiles and rolls her eyes.

"These are today's fights." Tobias holds the blackboard up for the initiates to see.

Today's fights are:

Asta v Alex

Laura v Sasha

Luke v Jet

Kiara is not fighting today.

Asta and Alex step closer to each other and although they are whispering, they stand less than a meter away from me so I can hear every word.

"We knew it would happen sometime..." Asta whispers.

"Yeah well take it easy on me would ya! I've already had my ass kicked by you enough times!" Alex let's out a laugh and before long so does Asta. "I still don't know how you do it!" He adds.

Asta turns towards him, "Hey! You've got the whole 'brain thing' going on so it's only fair that I have something I'm good at."

"C'mon Ast, you're great at heaps of stuff!" Alex tells her, "now, take mercy on your twin brother would you?"

I stop for a second. What did Asta mean when she said Alex had the whole 'brain thing'?

"Six?" I look up and Tobias is waiting for me to start the fight. I walk over and Tobias yells, "go!"

The twins raise they're arms up in the protective position. Asta fires a kick into Alex's side with such speed I almost miss it. She didn't try this hard in her last fights! Alex slams his fist into Asta's side and she hunches over, likely winded. Alex takes the opportunity to kick her ankles and she falls onto her side. Alex tries to kick her but she rolls over so that when he kicks, the force makes him slip onto his back - they both stand back up.

"Nice punch." Asta says quickly.

"Thanks." Alex adds.

Alex throws a punch to Asta's face but she ducks and punches into his stomach. She stands back up immediately and brings her arm back. Asta launches her elbow into Alex's shoulder. Alex stumbles back a few steps but throws his knee into her thigh.

"Good elbow." I hear Alex quickly say and Asta just nods. She throws a kick into his side. Alex aims his punch for Asta's jaw but she's fast. She grabs his fist and twists it behind his back.

"Aaarghahah I've never liked that one." Alex says as Asta holds his arm behind his back. He tries kicking her but can't get much power into it because the more he kicks, the higher she pulls his arm.

"I'm sorry Alex!"

"Don't be stupid Asta honestly!" Alex says and laughs an airy laugh. "Shine!"

Asta brings her arm back and throws a final punch into his temple, knocking Alex unconscious. She guides his body to the ground and lies him down gently.

"Asta wins!" I call out and circle her name.

She turns to me, "he shouldn't have too many bruises. Only on his torso." Jet takes her shoulders and moves her away from her twin as he drags Alex off the fight mat.

Asta doesn't look too upset which surprises me before I think about it. I turn to Tobias, "how many times do you think they've practised fighting each other?"

"A lot," he nods, "she's amazing and he's great. Plus, she didn't look too worried."

I don't say anything, although I do agree. I just turn back to the ring and wait. A few minutes later, Alex wakes and looks fine, if you didn't know he was just knocked out. But I do, so I notice the slight stumble in his step and the tiny bit of disorientation in his eyes. He covers it well though, this is clearly not his first time and I doubt Asta has never been knocked out by him either.

"So who's fighting next?" Alex smirks and I can't help but smile. I notice in the corner of my eye that Tobias' lips are turned up slightly.

"Laura. Sasha. In the ring girls."


	35. Final Fights

**tHaNkS fOr YoUr SuPpOrT! kEeP tElLiNg Me YoUr ThOuGhTs!**

Laura and Sasha have entered the ring. The two girls throw punch after punch at each other and with each blow I wince. Laura's nose is bleeding; Sasha's lip is split. Laura throws yet another punch at Sasha and after a slight step to the left, Sasha collapses. Laura falls to the floor a second later but she stays conscious, unlike Sasha.

"Laura wins." I call and circle her name on the blackboard but a sick feeling courses through me. Nobody is winning these fights. Tobias, Jet and Alex are already crouching down next to the two girls. Jet helps pull Laura up and Asta runs up to help him steady her. Then Tobias lifts up Sasha and slides her over into Alex's arms. Alex goes a slight shade of pink, blushing, and I watch as Tobias tells the boys to place them at the side. They do, gently applying an icepack to the side of Laura's nose.

"Ok Jet and Luke, final fight!" Tobias, er Four, shouts.

Jet and Luke get in the ring. Jet moves first, like always, and throws a jab into Luke's face. Luke kicks into Jets knees and Jet throws punch after punch into Luke's stomach, knocking him to the ground. Luke tries a few times to strike back but he is too weak and Jet is too fast. One finally blow and Luke doesn't move. A quick fight. I circle Jets name and Tobias calls out, "Jet wins the final round of fights."

Alex is already working on helping Luke up. Asta checks up on Jet and then helps Alex to drag Luke off the mat. He wakes up halfway there but the twins keep dragging him anyway.

I scan over the initiates that stand in front of Tobias and I. Only four sets of eyes stair back at us and I realise then how small our group is, even if three people are in the infirmary.

"The rankings will be here after lunch so come straight here if you plan on seeing them," Tobias says and I add, "go to lunch now."

They leave and Tobias takes my hand. "Come on!" He says to me and starts running, pulling me along behind him.

"Tobias, where are we going?" I laugh and then start to get the idea. I run too.

"Somewhere nice." He smiles to me and I can't help but smile back. We reach the dining hall and push in front of everyone to get our food. Some Dauntless call out angrily but we're gone before they can do anything. Once we've got it we run past our table.

"Where are you two going?" I hear Zeke shout out and I spin around, smiling.

"Somewhere special!" I don't stop running and I don't let go of Tobias' hand. We reach the chasm and start to slow to a walk. He leads me down to our special place at the bottom of the chasm. It's silent apart from the roar of water crashing against rock. He sits against a rock and I sit next to him. We eat in silence as we watch the water. It's beautiful. It amazes me that something could appear so detrimental but yet so beautiful at the same time. My stomach knots at the thought of me falling forward but I feel a hand around my waist and turn into Tobias, untying the knots immediately. He presses his lips against mine and we kiss, listening to the roar of the chasm in the background. I pull away and stare into his eyes.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" He whispers even though there's no need to. These words are ours.

"I love you Tobias."

"I love you Tris."

Our hands are still locked together as Tobias and I walk down to the training room.

"Ok, we need to figure out the rankings," Tobias says and I nod. I get the black board and a piece of chalk and return to where we sit. We look at the wins and losses of the fights and shuffle around the order.

"I think that's right," I say and nod as I look at the rankings.

"Yeah, I agree," Tobias nods and kisses me again. I hear a distant sound of shuffling footsteps and pull back.

The initiates enter the training room, all of them. Laura, Sasha and Luke are all limping slightly, Sasha more so than the rest.

Tobias and I stand in front of them and wait for silence; we don't have to wait long.

"You're rankings for the fights are finalised." Tobias says. I flip the blackboard around so that the initiates can read the rankings.

1- Asta

2- Alex

3- Jet

4- Laura

5- Sasha

6- Luke

7- Kiara

I watch the reactions like I did last time. Asta and Alex hug again and I notice that once they separate, Jet goes up to Asta and they hug. When they pull away, both of them have gone red and smile. Alex stands there smiling, he's obviously happy. Once Jet walks away I watch as Alex punches her arm laughing and she rolls her eyes and punches back. I watch as Laura and Sasha talk and I'm glad that Laura found a nice friend instead of following Kiara around. Luke just stares at the blackboard. Tobias leads Kiara from the training room. Her eyes are filled with a vacant glare and I know what Tobias will be telling her. She is factionless after today. What scares me more is that I don't really care.


	36. What's tonight?

**sO mAnY oF yOu HaVe GiVeN mE sOmE sUgGeStIoNs So ThAnK yOu So MuCh! I hAvE a GoOd IdEa I wAnT tO hApPeN iN cApTuRe ThE fLaG bUt I wIlL mAkE yOuR sUgGeStIoNs HaPpEn So KeEp ReViEwInG!**

That afternoon, we walk down to Uriah's apartment. I walk in without knocking, the door already unlocked, and Tobias follows. Our whole group is squished up and sitting on the bed.

"Hey Trissyboo!" Zeke laughs as I reach the bed and the others say hello as well. The group shuffles around to make room but with six people already sitting on the bed, there isn't much room to be made. Tobias sits down in a spot next to Christina on the corner of the bed. I place my foot on the edge and pull myself up so that I'm standing on the bed. I step between Tobias and Christina and sit myself down in Tobias' lap. His arms wrap around my waist and my hands are on his arms.

I smile, "hey Zekeybear."

"You guys ready for tonight!" Uriah beams and a grin covers his face.

"You mean for when we beat your sorry ass?" Tobias says sternly and I can't help but laugh.

"Woah! Go Four!" Marlene laughs.

Shauna raises an eyebrow, "what's tonight?"

And Christina and I answer simultaneously, "capture the flag."

All night we stayed in Uriah's apartment, talking and laughing. Around dinnertime, the boys went to the dining hall and brought back dinner and Dauntless Cake. We were thankful, of course. We continued talking. Nothing especially interesting came up but we had fun.

I get up from the bed. By now, I take up the most space and honestly don't know how that happened. I leave the apartment and check outside; it's dark. Walking back inside, I check the time; twenty minutes to twelve.

"Ready guys?" I grin and they nod.

We make our way silently to the transfers' dorm first. Shauna, Zeke, Will, Marlene and, of course, Uriah, Christina, Tobias and I are all outside the door to their dorm. We all carry flashlights and have cheeky grins covering our faces. Tobias is at the front, followed by Uriah, then Christina and I and then the rest. He holds up three fingers. Then two. Then one.

Tobias opens the door and we all stream in, turning our flashlights on in the process.

"GET UP! EVERYONE OUT OF BED!" Tobias' shouts fill the dorms. All the initiates sit up but don't move anywhere. It's too dark, even through the light of our flashlights, to make out their faces.

"WERE YOU LISTENING TRANSFERS?" Christina shouts menacingly.

"MOVE IT!" I add and they get up.

I shine my flashlight to each initiate. Alex and Asta are fully clothed. The only thing they will have to do is put shoes on. Sasha, however, wears a t-shirt and short-shorts; Luke wears a shirt and boxers; Laura wears a shirt and long pants; Jet slept in boxers with no shirt.

"MEET US AT THE TRACKS IN 10 MINUTES!" Tobias shouts, snapping me from my daze.

"DON'T BE LATE!" Uriah adds and we leave to head for the Dauntless-Borns' Dorms. I take one last look at their sleep-dazed faces and see the shock and confusion that consumes them. I remember my thoughts last year 'what's going on?' as I locked my eyes with Tobias'.

I leave the room and chase after Uriah and the others.

We enter their dorms screaming. The awakening is very similar to the last times although I notice the Dauntless-Born initiates sleep in mainly t-shirts and pants. A few don't, but the majority does. I look at every face as they line up in front of us to see who was factionless after the fights. Greg isn't here, it must be him.

"DAUNTLESS-BORNS, BE AT THE TRACKS IN 10 MINUTES!" Tobias shouts.

"DONT BE LATE!" Christina screams and we file out. Will, Marlene, Zeke and Shauna head back to their apartments and Uriah, Christina, Tobias and I head to the tracks. The second we step out of the Dauntless Compound the bitter cold bites my skin. I think Tobias notices me shiver because he takes off his jacket and wraps it around me. I let the jacket drape over my shoulders and smile up to him. We wait by the tracks for the initiates.

"Four, how long?" Uriah asks and looks to the end of the tracks where the train will appear.

"Five minutes now."

Christina nudges my side, "you guys can get off first, you're going to need all the help you can get!"

I snicker, "oh, you're on!" It's Tobias and I against Christina and Uriah.

"Four minutes." Tobias mutters. I'm not cold anymore; Tobias' jacket has kept me warm. I slide the jacket off my shoulders and return it to him. He raises his eyebrows to me as if to ask 'you sure?' and I just smile in response.

"That'd be them," Christina says and I follow my eyes to where she's looking. Tobias throws his jacket to the side of the guns and then he too looks to the initiates.

"They're walking," I state the obvious and shake my head, "HURRY UP!"

Their speed raises and the front group run whereas the back group jog.

"Three minutes," Tobias whispers to the three of us. The initiates get to us seconds later.

There are two boxes to Uriah's side, one of paintballs and one of the guns. Uriah picks up one gun and passes it to Christina. She gives the gun to me and I hand it to Tobias. I turn back to Christina to see her standing there ready to hand me my gun. I take it, followed by two boxes of paintballs. Tobias takes one of my boxes and the four of us load our guns.

Christina speaks to the initiates first, "Everyone grab a gun and a set of paintballs." Tobias mumbles, "two minutes."

The Dauntless-Borns push through to get the guns first and the Transfers copy what they are doing. By the time everyone gets what they need Tobias turns to us and utters, "one minute." The three of us nod and turn around to face the tracks. Tobias was exactly right. In the distance I can see a train's light slowly getting bigger with each meter it takes towards us. I feel the familiar rumble of the tracks and begin sprinting alongside the rails.

"Everyone on the fifth car!" Uriah calls from behind me. I continue running and simultaneously begin to count the carriages. One, two, three -

An arm wraps around my waist and I'm lifted off the ground. Tobias grips the train handle with one arm and holds me with his other. I stay there, with him, and watch as the initiates jump into the train. The last initiate jumps in and Christina and Uriah follow with ease. Tobias lifts me up a little bit higher and I slide in the opening of the train. I watch as Tobias does too.

Christina, Uriah, Tobias and I stand in the opening of the train. We must look fierce standing over them with the imminent danger of what could await if we stumbled back. We must look Dauntless. I like it.

"We are about to divide into two teams to play capture the flag. Teams will consist of an even amount of Transfers, Dauntless-Borns and instructors." Instructor Four speaks over the train.

I add, "This is a Dauntless Tradition so I suggest you take it seriously." I notice Tobias turning towards me after I said it, he said that exact same thing to my initiate group last year. I don't make eye contact with him but I notice he turns back a second later.

Then Uriah calls out, "let's sort out the teams! Transfers first!"


	37. Capture the flag

**fOlLoW mY sToRy? Be DaUnTlEsS – dO iT! i DaRe YoU (;**

"You can choose first," Tobias nods towards Uriah and Christina and I take a small step towards him.

"We don't need any advantages," Christina scoffs and to my vacant stare, she nods whispering with Uriah.

"Jet," Uriah finally answers and Jet moves to that side of the train.

I look to Tobias and nod in our own way of unspoken communication. "Alex," he states and Alex moves from Asta's side to come over behind Tobias and I.

"Asta," Christina answers before even looking at Uriah.

I say, "Sasha," and the two girls move to their teams.

"Luke," Christina chooses followed by me, "Laura."

"Ok, Dauntless-Borns next." Tobias says.

"You guys can choose first this time," Uriah looks to us and I just nod.

"Tash," Tobias says and I let him choose our Dauntless-Borns. He knows them better than I.

Uriah looks over the Dauntless-Borns before saying, "Matt."

"Jack," Tobias responds. I wonder why Uriah chose Mathew over Jack but then I realise why, Mathew's stronger. What Christina and Uriah clearly don't understand, like Eric, is that capture the flag has no need for strength.

"Rees," Christina calls out and I smile, "Ash." I look to Tobias and he nods, approving my choice. I realised Christina and Uriah are choosing who they believe to be the strongest, Tobias and I however are choosing those who we believe to be the smartest.

"Shane," Uriah says and confirms my theory.

"Victor," Tobias chooses this time.

Uriah picks Jaz and we take Emma.

The teams end up like this:

Tobias and I

Alex

Sasha

Laura

Tash

Jack

Ash

Victor

Emma

Christina and Uriah

Jet

Asta

Luke

Matt

Rees

Shane

Jaz

The teams sit, one on each side of the train car. I remember climbing the Ferris Wheel with Tobias last year and racing for the flag with Christina and Uriah. I remembered the splatter of paint as it found its target and the feeling of wind slapping against my face as I ran as fast as I could. I indulge in memories of my initiation but when I think about certain times my throat tightens and a weight sinks in my chest.

"We're here." Tobias grasps each door handle and hangs half in and half out of the train. Both groups stand and Christina, Uriah and I move over to the opening.

"Ok! My team off first!" I call out above the roar of wind. Tobias turns to me and snickers slightly.

"Your team?"

"Our team." I correct myself and roll my eyes. "C'mon, let's jump!"

I push off from the train and almost immediately hit the ground, running a few steps to keep my balance. I notice the rest of our team jumping off, Tobias jumping last. The train continues on it's tracks taking the other team far away.

After a moment, the initiates have gathered around Tobias and I as if waiting for instruction. Tobias must notice too because he says, "it's your initiation, you figure things out."

"I say we should hide the flag somewhere they will never find it and then everyone spread out that way!" Jack says pointing in the direction the train disappeared in. I remember my initiate group having the same discussion. If we plan on winning this, they need to locate the other teams' flag.

"No way!" Tash interjects, "hide the flag and split into two teams. Have one team defend and one attack."

"But we don't know where their flag is!" Sasha steps forward and looks completely comfortable within the group. Finally, somebody states the obvious!

"Then we'll find it?" Ash cuts in and narrows her eyes. "We're not stupid, Transfer!"

Laura steps forward now and pushes her shoulder in front of Sasha's, "what she's saying is, we need to narrow down the location of where they could be before we go searching the entire place!"

"We at least know it's over that way somewhere..." Victor says, indicating towards where Jack pointed.

"Yeah, and they know we're over here somewhere!" Sasha replies.

"So we need to attack first!" Ash cuts back in. After this comment, the group shouts over each other with their ideas and telling the others what they think should happen. Each idea is as bad as the previous and I have to stop myself from telling them to all shut up.

"GUYS!" Alex shouts and everyone stares at him, wide eyes and gaping jaws. "We're them."

After a brief pause Victor asks, "What?"

Alex just says, "we, are them!"

"What do you mean?" Tash asks. She shifts her weight onto her left leg and crosses her arms as if preparing to receive information. I like her attitude towards it - that both Transfers and Dauntless-Borns are equal.

"We are having all of these ideas. The very same ideas the other team will be thinking of!" Alex looks over everyone in our little huddle. I'm smiling by now. Tobias and I chose the smartest and because of that, we will win. Alex continues, "if we plan on winning this, assuming you all want to?, we have to -"

"We have to think differently." Jack finished for Alex. The two look to each other and smile before Jack says, "we have to think of something that they wouldn't be expecting and because of your little interruption, I'm going to assume you have an idea?"

"As a matter of fact," a grin spreads across Alex's face, "I do have an idea."


	38. Split Up

**iF sOmEoNe SaYs ThEy DoN't WaNt To PlAy CaPtUrE tHe FlAg LiKe ThE dAuNtLeSs, ThEy'Re LyInG! (;**

"Tell us what we have to do." Tash says simply and from next to her Jack nods in agreement. Alex looks to each person and they nod. Ash rolls her eyes, she still nods. Tobias and I stand a metre away from the group and Alex looks to us as well.

"Well?" I say, "hurry up!"

Alex smiles as Tobias and I step forward to join in on the group.

"Hide the flag somewhere they're unlikely to find it. Like, uh, where could that be?" Alex laughs awkwardly at the end as he tries to think of somewhere.

After a moment of silence Tash answers, "we could tie it to the top of one of these trees?"

We all look up. The trees are tall and covered with foliage. I'm impressed by the idea. Looking back to the smiles on people's faces it's clear that so are the others.

"Go on Alex?" Sasha says. Alex smiles to her before continuing.

"Ok, so hide the flag at the top of the trees and then split into two groups. One group head towards the other team's flag and one group head that way." Alex points to a place 90° east of where the other team would be. I see nothing but trees.

"Why that way?" Laura asks, puzzled.

Alex shrugs, "Well, not necessarily that way but somewhere away from our flag. We can create some sort of giant diversion. You know, to lure their team away from both our flag and their flag!"

Emma smiles before speaking for the first time, "and that way, the group heading to their flag knows where they came from!"

"Great work Amity!" Jack laughs and slaps Alex on the back.

Tash pushes Jack, "don't be such a pansycake Jack!"

Everyone in our group is smiling yet again, laughing at Tash and Jack but also at the imaginative plan.

"What will be this diversion?" One of the initiates asks, I'm not quite sure who. I think at first it was Victor but he is playing with something on his jacket, not consumed in the conversation at all.

Instead, I tap Tobias' chest. I look into his eyes as I speak to the group, "Four and I have got the diversion covered."

"Uh ok then," Alex nods but I don't offer him anymore about my idea. Tobias knows what I'm thinking of, I can tell by the smile he is trying to hide.

Victor snaps back to the conversation, "how are we going to divide the teams?"

Tobias shifts slightly, "have two attack teams: Alex, you lead up the first team and Ash you take the second." Alex and Ash both nod. "Six and I will take Jack and Tash with us."

"Ok," Ash says, "who are you taking, Alex?"

"I'll take Sasha and Victor. Laura and Emma will be on your team. Is that alright?"

"Yep," Ash nods. "My team will head down the tracks, go with your group more into the forest."

The two attack teams jog off. Ash's group run along the tracks in silence and Alex's group run into the forest towards the presumable direction of Christina and Uriah's team's flag. Within seconds, both teams jog out of sight leaving Jack, Tash, Tobias and I.

"Let's hide this flag, shall we?" Jack grins. Tobias takes the flag from his pocket and hands it to him.

"I should be doing this, not you!" Tash laughs and snatches the flag from him. Jack tries to fight her for the flag but Tash just laughs more and says, "I'm smaller, Jack, I can get higher!"

Tash walks over to the nearest tree, it's also one of the tallest. The nearest branch is way too high for her to grab hold off.

Jack walks over to her, "Four, give me a hand here, would ya?" Tobias walks over to Tash as well. "Alright Tashy, put your hand on my shoulder and wedge your foot on my hands," Jack instructs, crouching down, and clasps his hands together. Tash lifts her foot up and into his hands and balances her hand on Jack's shoulder. Jack lifts his hands up so that he is standing and Tash is standing with her left foot in his hands - her only source of balance is the tree and Jack. Tobias takes Tash's other hand and she lifts her right foot up onto Tobias' shoulder - pulling herself up. She is high enough now so she reaches for the branch in front of her - it's in line with her chest. She flings one leg over and sits on the branch so that she's facing the tree trunk.

"Thanks guys!" She says as she gets to her feet on the branch. If we were in any other faction this kind of behavior would seem reckless. It's doesn't seem reckless in Dauntless.

The three of us watch as Tash weaves her way up the tree pulling herself up with her arms and pushing with her legs. She move with pace and stops at one of the higher branches to shout down to us "is this high enough?"

"Yeah that's great," I shout back. Tash reaches up and ties the flag to the branch just above her head.

"Alright! I'm coming down now guys." She shouts back down. Tash crouches on the branch and slides her foot down to the branch below her. It takes slightly longer for her to get down.

When she reaches the lowest branch, she grasps it with her hands and let's her feet slide. Jack is already waiting for her.

As she hangs from the branch, holding her weight with merely her arms, Jack bends her knees and places one arm around them.

"Whenever you're ready Tash," he says to her and braces his free arm for her drop. She releases the branch and her weight is caught by Jack. As she fell, her back landed on his free arm and she was caught bridal style. With a slight crouch to ease the abrupt fall, Jack caught her weight easily.

"How long did that take, Four?" She laughs as Jack puts her on the ground. "Thanks Jack!"

"Just under five minutes, good climbing," Tobias answers her. I look up and watch the flag wave and flicker in the wind. The bright glow of orange lighting up the leaves around it and illuminating the night sky.

"We better head off, the attack teams will be ready for the diversion soon." I say to the others when Tash has finished dusting herself off.

We jog perpendicular to the tracks. I allow the pressure of the cool wind to overtake me and sink into the rhythm of my footsteps. After a minute I notice Tash by my side.

"Where are we headed to?" Her footsteps sync with mine.

I let her words linger in the air for a moment before answering, "Navy Pier."


	39. Their Ferris Wheel

**tHiS cHaPtEr SwItChEs BeTwEeN dIfFeReNt PoV's. Do YoU lIkE tHaT bEtTeR oR jUsT kEeP iT aS tRiS aNd ToBiAs'? I'lL fOlLoW tHe MaJoRiTy So ReViEw!**

ALEX'S POV

We head off in a jog. It's certainly not a sprint and I could run faster but we are keeping a steady pace. Sasha keeps overtaking me and when she notices, drops behind again. Each time she does, I watch her. Her strides are long and precise and she shows no hints of exhaustion. I wipe a bead of sweat from my brow and stay amazed at her fitness. With each step I guide us further into the forest, I slowly increase the distance between my group and Ash's group.

Just before I leapt from the train I felt her grab my arm saying, "bring it!" I smirked back to my twin at her challenge and jumped. I have to beat Asta and hopefully, my plan will lead us to a win!

"Guys, stay quiet," I half whisper to Sasha and Victor. Leaves and branches crunch against the floor with each step we take. Not quite as inconspicuous as I'd like.

We keep jogging for a few minutes when Sasha stops, dead in her tracks.

"Did you guys hear that?" She whispers, her eyes are completely alert.

"Hear what?" Victor says as we return to where Sasha stopped.

I try to focus on my hearing. A distant voice shouts, "no way!" I can only just hear it but I can tell that it was shouted.

"They're still quite far away," Sasha begins, "but we need to be quiet from here on!"

Victor and I nod as we head off again. We walk at a brisk pace this time instead of jogging - we figured it would be quieter and since Four, Six and the two Dauntless-Borns haven't started their diversion yet I figured it wouldn't matter.

Eventually, we creep up behind a patch of foliage and see the other group standing by the tracks. The separation between Dauntless-Borns and Transfers not as noticeable as it was at the start of initiation.

"No guys! We need to think this through!"

I peer further around the tree in front of me and find the source of that oh so familiar voice. Asta.

"No! Let's just go all out!" A Dauntless-Born shouts.

"Yeah!" One or two others shout their agreements. Jet steps forward to take Asta's hand. I almost walk over and snatch her from him but I hold myself back. I like Jet! So why do I still want to stop this?

The two instructors, Christina and Uriah I think their names were, stepped into the group. "What's happening?" Christina asks. Numerous people shout out over each other again and Uriah crosses his arms as if waiting for silence. He gets it.

If we want to win this, Four and Six really outta hurry up!

Tris' POV

With each step I fend off attacking branches and shrubs. Tash and I run ahead, our footsteps in sync, and I know the guys are only mere meters behind us.

I hear Four say, "slight left, Six," so I turn and run slightly more to the left. Moments later, I see colour. White framing of large structures comes into site through a thin layer of branches. I hit the branches before Tash does and spread my arms to move the branches away. Both Tash and the guys run through straight after me.

The four of us walk now, over to the carousel. Tash sits on a white horse with red reigns and Jack leans on the horse next to hers - a black horse with a yellow saddle. It's eyes are scratched off and the paint on it's back is chipped. Tobias and I stand to the side.

"What's your idea?" He turns to ask me.

A smile finds it's way onto my face, "Jack, Tash, you two will hide somewhere around here. Make sure that you are hidden but still have a good view of this area." I indicate towards an opening, a field to the side of the carousel and the Ferris Wheel.

"Ok," Jack nods, "and what will you and Four be doing exactly?" He wriggles his eyebrows up and down and I roll my eyes in response.

"Four and I will climb into a cart in the Ferris wheel," I look at him and raise my eyebrows asking the silent question, 'is that ok?' He nods reassuringly.

Tash rests her elbows her on the horses head, "yeah but what's the diversion going to be?"

I notice Tobias catching on, "Six and I will be turning on the Ferris Wheel."

Tash and Jack both nod, they seem to like the plan. Tash takes her place kneeling behind her horse on the Carousel and Jack takes cover inside the Ferris Wheel's control room. They are both in positions where they can easily be covered but can just as easily attack the other team when they come sprinting down looking for our flag. Tobias and I walk over to the lowest cart. I notice that where a glass door previously was, no longer exists. Tobias gives me a slight boost and I still have to stretch up. I grasp the opening with my hands and feel the cut glass dig into my fingers. I pull myself in and dust off my hands on my pants.

"I'm in." I move to the back of the cart and watch as Tobias' hands grip the opening. His knuckles turn white and slowly, he pulls himself in. He flops to the side and I try to help steady him. We both laugh as he rolls on top of me.

Jack shouts up to us from the control room, "hey lovebirds! You ready?"

I hear Tash laughing and I shout back to Jack, "waiting on you!" To this, Jack laughs. I watch him through the glass walls of the carriage he fiddles with different controls and finally mumbles "aha."

He slides a lever forward and the Ferris wheel starts to creak. Tobias stiffens next to me and I take his hand and squeeze it. He squeezes back but I don't let go.

"There you go guys!" Jack shouts up to us, a distant noise.

I look behind me as the Ferris wheel lights up and a catchy tune starts to play. We glaze slowly around the circular frame.

I crawl across to the opening and lean half out of the Ferris wheel, "hey, Jack! Turn up the volume!"

He nods and leans forward, fiddling with the controls again. A moment later, the sound level doubles and lights are flicking everywhere. I move to the far side of the carriage so that I'm facing Tobias.

"They will be here soon, Tobias." I say trying to calm him down. He nods and we both shuffle next to the opening. We watch the rough area where Christina and Uriah's team will appear from, guns ready.

CHRISTINA'S POV

Since the moment Tris and Four's team leapt from the train, our group hasn't stopped bickering. Uri and I just stand to the side. Some of the transfers are saying to split and the Dauntless-Born are saying to go all out. Déjà vu.

I tap Uriah and whisper, "we both know where they will be."

He nods, "Navy Pier. They've been dying to see their Ferris Wheel again."

"Their Ferris wheel?" I laugh, "theirs?"

Uriah laughs too, "well, it kind of is!"

One of the transfers steps away from the huddle, it's Asta, the blonde, female twin. She walks over to where Uriah and I are standing, "what would you two do? If it was your initiation?"

I look to Uriah first, he nods so I turn back to Asta. "Last year Four and Six climbed a Ferris Wheel, saw where the other teams flag was, came down, told us and we split into two groups to get the flag." Most of the initiates were listening to me by now.

"There's a Ferris wheel here?!" Jet, another transfer, asks.

Rees answers before anyone else, "yeah, Navy Pier. It's an old, rundown fair ground. Not much there any more though."

Shane crosses his arms, "what should we do this year, then?"

"Ultimately," Uriah begins, "it's up to you. But I, we, would recommend you split into two groups."

Uriah smiles to me smugly and I finish for him, "one group stay here, one group head to the Navy Pier."

"Four and Six wouldn't go to the same place two years in a row though, would they?" Asta asks and I look to her.

"If it was to their Ferris wheel they would."


	40. Winners

**tHe GaMe CoNtInUeS!**

ALEX'S POV

"So that's where they've gone..." I whisper to myself. Sasha gives me a curious look but I just shake my head and look back to Asta's group.

"So let's split into two groups, one group go to the Ferris wheel and the other stay here and guard the flag!" Asta leans slightly into Jet. She's got this element about her, I don't even know, but she certainly doesn't lose her cool easily.

"No way!" A Dauntless-Born, Shane?, crosses his arms, "let's all just go to the Ferris wheel!"

Asta crosses her arms too, "But what if-"

At that moment, I heard it. One of those tunes that get stuck in your head for hours on end. I heard it. And so must the other team too because they all immediately stop.

Shane starts to speak again, "Hey! What's tha-"

"Shut up!" Jet snaps. I notice Asta look to him and smile. A second later, I find myself smiling too. I am happy for her.

The tune continues to play and Christina and Uriah are smirking to each other.

"Ferris wheel?" Matt asks the instructors and they nod, still smirking. "Let's go!"

Matt starts to sprint away from the tracks. Jaz, Rees, Shane and Luke all sprint after him. I pull myself in closer behind the foliage and notice Sasha and Victor doing the same. I watch as they slowly travel away when Sasha slips. I steady her before she made too much noise and then look back to Asta, Jet, Christina and Uriah to see if they heard. They didn't.

"Sash, you ok?" I whisper to her and she looks behind me. I follow her gaze and see Ash, Laura and Emma standing right there.

"You made it," Ash states but I just roll my eyes.

Under my breath I mutter, "try not to seem so surprised."

TRIS' POV

The Ferris Wheel turns and the tune continues to play. I can see why this would have been popular although I'm not quite sure Tobias feels the same way. He's sitting, tense. I don't think watching the ground is helping him either but when the other team comes, we will need his aim.

"Tobias," I say and he nods. His eyes staying glued to the vicinity where Christina and Uriah's team will emerge. "It's ok. Just focus on shooting, alright?" Another nod.

We sit for a few minutes and I let the tune of the Ferris Wheel distract me. My gun still slings half out of the carriage door and points towards the rough vicinity. I hear a paintball gun be fired and snap my gaze down. Tash fired. I immediately look to the edge of the old fairground and see five people, I can't tell who though because the Ferris wheel is at it's peak. I can, however, see the splat of blue that covers someone's torso. A clear sign that Tash hit her target. We all start raining down shots on the rest of the people. The Ferris wheel lowers now and I can make out the faces. Leaning behind the first row of trees is Matt, Shane and Jaz. Rees is behind a tree between where Matt and Shane are and Luke was the one to be shot. He sits by a tree to the side.

Shane ducks out from behind his tree and fires at Tash, I jerk my head to see where he hit. Luckily, Tash was paying attention so she pulled in behind her horse while the paint oozed down the wall behind her. She jumps up from behind her horse and pokes her tongue out to Shane, laughing. Shane leans out for another shot but Tobias and I fire simultaneously, both shots finding their way into his body - mine on his thigh and Tobias' on his shoulder. Shane, now covered in pink and green crouches next to Luke and shakes his head.

Jack springs from his spot in the Ferris Wheel's control room. He's headed around the trees to get better aim. Before they could notice him, Jack fires and leaves a large patch of yellow paint on Rees' stomach. Straight away, Matt fires three rounds into Jack leaving layers of paint covering his arm.

The Ferris Wheel reaches it's highest point again. We gain the perfect view of both Matt and Jaz from behind the trees. With a quick look and a nod to Tobias, we both shoot. My shot lands on Jaz's shoulder while Tobias' hit Matts arm.

"Got 'em!" I smirk to Tobias and we both laugh although I notice he pulls me slightly more into the Ferris wheel. Once our carriage is close to the ground, we drop out. I jump first and then Tobias. My feet hit the floor with a thud but I move to make way for him. When he hits the ground, he stumbles into me although I do think he did it on purpose. I laugh anyway.

"That was amazing!" Tash and Jack sprint up to us. Jack was the only one that got hit.

"Eew Jack! You stink!" Tash pinches her nose joking around.

Jack laughs too, "it's this stupid paint!"

"You sure?" Tash laughs some more and Jack feigns hurt. He dabs his fingers into the swirl of rainbow on his arm and reaches it out to Tash. She whacks away his hand and we start laughing.

When our laughing dies down, I remember why we're here, "let's go get their flag!"

Tobias turns to Jack, "you're out, take the others by the tracks will ya? We'll meet you there once we've won!" Jack nods and jogs over to Matt, Shane, Luke, Jaz and Rees.

Tash, Tobias and I sprint past him and head towards where their flag must be. Have Alex and the rest of our initiates already got their flag? I can't hear any cheering or shouts of complaint. I assume not.

ALEX'S POV

Asta, Jet and the two instructors form a barrier around their flag. It's tied to a branch that sticks up from the ground. Not very impressive but considering the circumstance…

"Alright guys," I whisper to our group. I can hardly hear what I'm saying but I hope they can understand me. "Keep quiet. When I indicate, everyone fire at one person. Understand?" I receive a series of nods from everyone in our group. I raise my gun slowly without making a noise, the others do the same and I crouch closer towards the cover of foliage. Over my shoulder, I hold up three fingers, then two, then one and fire. My shot was the first of many. The sound of dozens of paintballs being fired fills the air and our four targets spin around looking for it's source. I hit the centre of Jet's chest - right where I aimed, and fire a few more rounds without aiming properly. Most hit. Uriah fires into our group and hits someone through the shrubs but I quickly twist towards him and within a second, he too is hit.

I jolt up from my crouch and sprint towards their flag. Arm outstretched, I tear the flag from its branch and raise it high above my head.

"YEAAAAAH!" I shout to announce our win and the rest of our team emerges from the bushes, they too are cheering. "WOOOOOH!"

Christina, Uriah, Asta and Jet are clearly disappointed, groaning in dismay. Jet comes up to me and punches me in the arm, harder than he would if he were joking but not hard enough to be serious. I elbow him jokingly back with the same amount of force but Asta and Sasha come over before he can hit back.

"Great work, Brother!" Asta smiles to me.

"Thank you, Sister," I laugh back to her and rub my hand on her scalp. We may be twins, but we're competitive, I'm still her brother and I just beat her, so I rub it in a little bit.

I notice Four, Six and Tash have rejoined our area too. Four and Six seem to be teasing Uriah and Christina but Tash stands next to them awkwardly.

"Tash!" I call out to her and she turns around. I raise my hand and wave her over.

"Hey!" She says with a relieved tone to her voice, "sorry, Jack and the other big headed guys are already shot. All of which happen to be my friends. Act all tough and then get shot with the first opportunity they get!" Tash rolls her eyes. She's known those 'big headed guys' since they were born so I'm guessing she's only teasing them and not actually serious.

"This is a colourful atmosphere!" Sasha laughs looking around. I agree. Surrounding trees and shrubs are dabbed with bursts of colour and almost half the people gathered here have been hit. Sasha, Tash and I haven't been. Neither have Four or Six.

I look back to the rest of the group and watch as Jet takes Asta's hand yet again. She looks up to him and smiles but quickly averts her gaze to the ground and blushes. Guys have always loved Asta and I can see why. She looks gorgeous and definitely has a great personality. But she's never been interested in dating. Until she met Jet, clearly.

I think I've been staring at their joined hands for too long. Jet looks directly at me and raises his eyebrows as if asking 'is it ok?'.

I smile and nod slowly and Jet smiles too.

"Wait!" Asta looks up from the ground and towards me, "where is your flag?!"

"Tash and Alex over here can tell you that!" Sasha laughs and nudges me forward slightly with her elbow.

With an awkward laugh I reply, "the Ferris Wheel had nothing to do with our flag..."

"Seriously?!" Christina calls out and everyone quiets down.

Tash finishes for me, "it's hidden amongst the trees."

"Follow us!" I shout out and jog off, this time faster than we did on the way here. Tash leads us to the flag. Asta stays to my side with Sasha and Jet directly behind us and everyone else behind them. I gradually pick up the pace until I hear Four shout out his final directions, "right turn!" And I immediately turn right to continue at a sprint. The bright glow of our flag is visible up ahead. I stop when we reach below the canopy and smile. It's hidden well.

"I'll get it!" Tash calls out. Four gives her a boost. Bending down, he pulls her onto his shoulders. Tash grips the tree and steadily stands, one foot on each of his shoulders. She scales the tree like an acrobat performing, although she hits the floor with a thud as she jumps from the lowest branch, it's quite a big drop.

Laughing, we run back to the tracks and join up with Luke and the others that were out. The train came exactly twelve minutes later, thanks Four. We jumped on and went back to the Dauntless Compound. Back home.


	41. A Fading Buzz

**HaPpY 2015! **

**oK sO i HaVe To BeGiN bY sAyInG sOrRy! I hAvEn'T pOsTeD aNoThEr ChApTeR iN a WhIlE aNd I wOn'T mAkE eXcUsEs BuT i WiLl MaKe It Up To YoU! i HaVe EdItTeD/rEwRoTe AlL oLd ChApTeRs, So SoMe ArE vErY dIfFeReNt (OtHeRs ArE mErElY mOdIfIeD), i AlSo HaVe NeW cHapTeRs ReAdY fOr YoU tO rEaD aNd, FiNaLlY, oVeR tHe PaSt FeW mOnThS i HaVe BeEn WoRkInG cLoSeLy WiTh A fRiEnD tO wRiTe A cOmPlEtElY nEw AnD dIfFeReNt Co-StOrY! iT's NoT pUbLiShEd YeT bUt I cAn TeLl YoU i'M lOvInG iT sO fAr AnD wIlL kEeP yOu PoStEd WhEn We ReLeAsE iT!**

**aS nOrMaL, eNjOy InItIaTeS!**

I slept in this morning. 9:30am. I'm still buzzing from our teams' win. Tobias practically had to drag me out of bed. Makes a change, I guess. I shuffle through my wardrobe and pull out a plain black tshirt and black, denim shorts. I go to the washroom to get changed and by the time I walk out, Tobias holds two muffins - one of which is half eaten.

"Good morning," I smile as I take my muffin from his hands.

"Well someone's looking a bit chirpier now," Tobias smirks. I glare at him until he leans down and presses his lips against mine. "Good morning."

Tearing off a piece of my muffin I ask, "what are we doing today?" The fights finished yesterday so the initiates - and trainers - have the day to recover.

"I've got to go into work," Tobias says and I groan, taking another bite of my muffin. "Max asked me to fill out some papers about the initiates. What Eric must have done last year, I guess."

"Doubt he even did that well..." I scoff and Tobias smiles, rolling his eyes. He opens the door and stands to the side waiting for me to go before him. With another bite of my muffin I walk through.

We walk down to his office together. When we get there, I curl up onto the two seater couch in his office and focus my gaze on Tobias as he works. He rifles through papers and scribbles something on his final piece. His muscles contract with each little movement and I can't help but have an overwhelming need to throw my arms around him. The thought surprises me; I never thought I'd think this way about someone.

"You're staring at me," he states with his eyes glued to the paperwork before him. I snap from my daze in that instant.

"I am," I smirk. I push myself up from the couch and shuffle over to sit on the corner of his desk. Picking up a piece of paper I ask, "what are you doing?"

"I'm writing out a status of our progress so far. And the initiates' progress. Who's strong, who's motivated, perseverant, smart, loyal. Here- " Tobias hands me a sheet with the name 'Luke Kelner' scribbled on the top. "It's Luke's progress report. Write it."

I pause for a moment with the paper held in my hands, "wait, me?"

"Yeah. You're just as qualified as anyone. Why not?" Tobias looks up to me from his chair, "plus we'd get out of here faster."

I nod and take a pen from his desk. Curling back onto his couch, I begin to write.

One and a half hours later, I place the report of Sasha Nayford on Tobias' desk. With an exasperated sigh I slouch and wait for him to hand me another. Instead, he scribbles down the end of his sentence and places it on top of the pile.

"That's the last of them."

"Seriously?!" A small laugh bubbles from my mouth, "that lasted forever!"

He laughs, "status reports you wrote for five initiates lasted forever? Well, it's 11:37 so we have the rest of the day to do whatever you want!"

"Lunch?"

"Lunch."

I hear Uriah from outside the dining hall. The first noise is indisputably his laugh. That laugh that says 'I'm doing something I shouldn't be.'

Tobias and I slide into the dining hall; I take my place next to Christina and Tobias does the same with Zeke. Tobias speaks first.

"Uri, what did you do this time?"

Marlene glares at Uriah and explains, "Uriah threw a piece of chicken at me!" As she reaches the end of the statement, her expression relaxes and she, along with the others, bursts out laughing. I laugh along too although I think it was one of those 'in the moment' jokes.

As the laughter dies down again, the group sigh in unison, starting another smaller round of laughter. Will recovers first, "today's plans?"

"Rest!" Christina yells. "I just want to do nothing! Losing tires me out!"

Before I can reply with a jokey but arrogant quip, I'm startled by the deep voice behind me, "well sorry to disrupt your afternoon but we have a situation. Christina, Uriah. Four, Tris. Can I speak to you please?" It wasn't a question. Max walked outside the dining hall and the four of us followed.

We have a situation. My fingers tingle with a touch of fear although I don't really know why. I stay close to the others anyway. Before I can ask what's going on, Christina does and Max replies in a hushed but serious tone.

"One of our initiates has not been seen since yesterday. Kiara Hollback. Some of my men went to escort her out last night but couldn't find her. I assumed she left to go to capture the flag with you but we haven't seen her this morning either."

"She didn't go last night," Uriah says simply to which I add, "do we have any ideas where she could be?"

That's when we heard it.

The high pitched screaming shook my ears.

Before I could even process it's source, Max, Tobias and Uriah ran. Christina's eyes met mine as we followed.

"Where are they running to?" Christina called out over the roar of the nearing chasm. By now, the guys were there already along with a quickly gathering crowd.

"Not again," I mumble as we run and Christina adds, "guess they found her." We push our way through the many familiar faces of the Dauntless to the front of the crowd. The first thing I notice is Laura, as pale as snow, jaw agape. I follow her stare towards the bottom of the chasm. Kiara's lifeless body lies at jagged angles on the rocks to the side of the chasm. My vision blurs with the lining of tears but I'm not crying. I couldn't cry for Kiara. But I remember Al. Everything seems to go silent as someone takes my hand and pulls me back. Laura's not there anymore. Some of the Dauntless Borns are dragging her back as she sobs. The pit is packed with Dauntless but there is silence linked to the annual death of an initiate. I guess Kiara would prefer to be dead then factionless.

It doesn't surprise me that I think I would have done the same thing.


	42. Lighthearted Regret

**aS pRoMiSeD, hErE's AnOtHeR cHaPtEr!**

**ILY INITIATES!**

Tobias and Max assist some other men in retrieving Kiara's body. A Dauntless leader'll speak of her bravery. The initiates, both dauntless-born and transfers alike, will attend amongst the Dauntless members, like I did for Al. I still don't know if I'll go. I probably will. The transfers need to know they'll get through this, and Tobias is probably going.

I sit with Christina and Uriah, our feet dangling over the ledge far above the net; the entrance for all initiates.

"Al never screamed," Christina whispers into the silence.

Nobody replies, the words sink in reminding us of the moment we're all thinking of. Uriah whispers, "we wouldn't have known if he did."

"Yes we would have," Christina's response is immediate as if she can't accept anything else, "someone would've heard. I would've known"

I notice Uriah open his mouth to reply but he catches my eye and in that instant disagreeing seems pointless. Dead silence returns.

The harsh sun beats down on our shoulders and I can feel my skin burning under its wrath. My lips are dry and my throat aches. When I speak, I don't recognise my voice immediately but I know what I'm saying. "I want to jump."

Christina grabs my arm, "off the chasm?! Tris! No don-"

"Off the net!" I stand to emphasise my point. "Right now." I don't know why but the hollowness I'm feeling needs to go so I'm leaving it here.

With a quick look at each other, my friends stand. Uriah counts down from three and I feel the immediate rush of air as I float towards the net. My body jolts and too quickly I lie flat on the net staring up at the stranger of a sun. I close my eyes and as the brightness dims, from a few metres away Christina whispers, "we should probably go."

I nod and then remember that she can't see me, "yeah." Uriah, who reached the edge of the net first, helps us down.

Down by the chasm, alcohol is being passed around to the crowds. Tobias stands at the edge of the chasm ready to deliver some final words. The three of us push through to get to him and once we get there, I take his hand. He relaxes, like I do, immediately.

"Where'd you go?" He whispers to me, lips against my ear.

"The net," I direct my gaze straight ahead. Focussing so I have no time to think back to Al or Kiara. I know that if I do, my eyes will well up and it would appear that I'm crying but I can't cry. Not here. Not in front of these people, my faction, my initiates.

"Alright," Tobias calls out amongst the dauntless to silence them. "We gather here, for another year, reflecting the bravery of one of this years initiates. A transfer from Candor who would've been an asset to the defence amongst the factions. Once a stubborn and lively girl, Kiara has taken the leap to bravery."

At the conclusion of his short speech,we chant Kiara's name along with the rest of Dauntless. I know Tobias doesn't believe everything he said, but there are certain things you have to say, especially in dauntless, after a death.

Tobias and I speak to Max later about the initiates' fear simulations to come. I just nod my head along with Tobias' words and pretend I'm listening but all I can think is that I should've been able to stop her somehow. Maybe if I'd just waited until Kiara was factionless instead of fighting her myself.

It's noticeable that something's happened in our compound. Maybe not to an Erudite or Abnegation or any other faction but to a Dauntless, everything is different. People walk at a slower pace, more alcohol is passed around, less food is thrown at one another and voices are in a more hushed tone. Our group is silent as Shauna and Marlene arrive to the dining hall, everything I have to say seems worthless.

We greet the girls though, and a lighthearted conversation starts about a pair of shoes Marlene bought.

"Mar, the last thing you need is another pair of shoes," Uriah laughs before receiving a vital lecture about the worth of shoes. I smile along with her but don't pay attention.

It's not until Christina turns to me directly that I tune in. "Rumours tell me that no transfers have found out yet. About the zip lining."

That's right. The zip lining's tonight. With everything going on I completely forgot. "No initiates have said anything about it but who knows. I didn't know where I was going until I was there."

Christina punches my shoulder hard, but not so hard it hurts, "still wish you'd called me! Tonight's the first time I do it!"

"Better not let the initiates see ya squeal then!" We laugh together and for the rest of the afternoon, joining in the hushed tone of the Dauntless compound, we whisper about the zip lining.


	43. Zip-Lining!

**HiS cHaPtEr'S rEaLlY lOnG, hOpE yOu LiKe!**

**ReAdY fOr ZiP lInInG? DaMn StRaIgHt.**

"Sure I can't persuade you to come, Four?" Shauna tries asking before we leave even though she already knows the answer. I kiss him on the cheek as he tells me to be safe. His arm lingers, holding me next to him for a moment too long and Uriah drags me away laughing.

I punch his arm as we run to the tracks and he sprints after me. It's not long before we get there but Uriah's faster than I am so my shoulder aches with dull pain from the payback. I laugh though, embracing his affection.

Christina, Zeke, Will and Marlene are already gathered at the hallway by the stairs, the back exit, waiting for us to hurry along. They stand with about six other members. Shauna follows us, not far behind; when Uriah and I were sprinting, she chose to jog at a safe distance behind.

We wait at the edge of the staircase in silence, listening to the rumbling of footsteps as initiates make their way towards us. Normally, the tradition is for siblings of members only but the only initiates this year with older siblings have transferred from Dauntless. Mathew's brother transferred a few years back and Jack's sister transferred last year, at least that's what Uriah told me earlier. This year it's open freely, Dauntless-Borns being told to come if they want danger and to invite any transfers they see worthy of becoming a member. What wasn't included this year was that if you don't go, you lose points. Simple as that. You're either scared or you're not worthy of even being asked. Dauntless is for those who take extra risks of bravery, overcoming cowardice.

The group of initiates stand before us in a tight hallway. Zeke let's out a cheer before unlocking the back stairwell. We run up dozens of stairs, running like the Dauntless do, whooping and cheering.

The evening light grows as we reach the top and I follow the other members out. The feeling of the train rattling against the tracks tingles my toes and I crack my knuckles ready to jump. Both members and initiates leap into the train in a tight pack with no room for error. Nobody asks where we're going.

I take a seat next to Christina and Zeke as we wait until we get there. My heart still pounds in my chest and my ears pulse to it's rhythm. Everyone is in this car. I look around, by now I know the names of all the Dauntless-Borns. I notice Jack, Tash, Mathew and Victor in the corner of the cart laughing as Jack pokes Tash. Jaz and Ash sit in silence next to Rees. No others came. The only transfers that were invited were Asta and Alex and Jet. Not surprising, really.

I watch as Tash punches Jack, laughing as he stops poking her. When she sees Alex she calls him over, he goes. It's not until he stands up that I notice he looks to Asta. "They can come too?" Tash calls out with a smile, pushing Jack away so he can't poke her. Asta smiles but shakes her head and Alex sits with the Dauntless-Borns regardless.

I tap Christina's thigh and indicate towards Alex, who is now poking Tash from the other side. She smiles, "he's fitting in with the Dauntless-Borns isn't he?"

I rest my head on Zeke's shoulder and he wraps his spare arm around me; his other hand holds Shauna's. "Awe, Trissyboo," Zeke teases through the conversations of initiates, "missing Four already are we?"

"Har har," I laugh before adding, "oh please!" But I do miss Tobias. We've been apart for twenty minutes and I feel this way. My life would've been dramatically different if I had chosen a different faction. But Zeke starts making kissy noises so I kick his shins with my heel and we laugh. I love Zeke. Since moving in with Tobias I think Zeke's been to our apartment more than I have. That's what you expect though, those two are closer than brothers.

It's not long after Zeke and I have started a kicking war that Uriah calls us over. The seven of us, Uriah, Zeke, Marlene, Shauna, Will, Christina and I stand in the opening of the car watching. The other Dauntless members are sitting to the side of the entrance. My hair whips into my face as I lean out of the car indulging in the abnormal pace of the train.

"Time to jump," Shauna whispers and before I can turn to face her she is in front of me, leaping into darkness.

I jump after Shauna, followed by the other members, and we run. Marlene runs next to me smiling and a smile tugs at my face too. Most of the dauntless members that came with us turn off down an alley, it's dark and I can't see what's at the end but I know they'll find themselves at the end point of the zip line waiting to catch us as we go. Marlene and Will go with them to help catch. We start walking as we turn down Michigan Avenue, the Hancock Building clear in sight amidst the darkness of abandoned buildings.

We sprint the final leg towards the Hancock Building, feet thundering across the ground in an organised stampede, and when we get there Zeke steps aside allowing me to go first. I roll my eyes, laughing as I step through the door's glass-less frame. Christina and Shauna follow closely behind and I notice Uriah tries to follow them, only to be elbowed away by Zeke.

"So Zeke, were you smart enough to turn the elevators on this year?" I laugh and he messes up my hair. By now the initiates are crowding around the elevator banks waiting with us, their gazes pointed with uncertainty.

Both elevator doors open at the same time and the six of us go in one and initiates in the other. Jet and Asta try coming in our escalator and Zeke pushes them back. "Back off, transfers. You've got your own."

We're quiet as the elevator begins to fly; twelve, thirteen, fourteen. I steady myself by holding onto Christina's shoulder and watch as the floor number goes up; sixty, sixty one, sixty two. I take a deep breath of anticipation as the elevator glides past the ninetieth floor. I know immediately when the doors open that our elevator reached the top first. Should we have told them what floor to go to? No. If they can't figure that out they don't deserve to zip line.

Uriah and Zeke grab a ladder from the other side of the room and place it against the hole in the ceiling. As Zeke holds it steady, Uriah climbs the first few rungs. I notice the older brother's hands shaking and help him to hold it steady. "Geez be careful would ya Uri?" Zeke laughs before thanking me. I notice I don't make much of a difference though. I climb up next and the other girls follow after. Zeke stays down, waiting for the initiates.

"What's taking them so long?" Zeke mutters as I catch the harnesses he throws up to me.

"Even Tris could figure out the right floor," Uriah laughs and I fumble the next harness, watching as it slides through my fingers to the floor below. I try to reach after it and Uriah snatches me tightly around the waist when I lose balance. I thank him and try to slow my racing heart rate as I step back from the hole. Shauna takes over with the catching and I'm glad I don't have to show my lack of coordination anymore.

Christina stands on the edge of the building looking out over the city before her. "Oh my God," she says as I walk up to her and nod. The sight strikes me for the second time as I look out at the horizon. I show her where we'll be zip lining from and she demands to go first. Laughing, I tell her that she can as long as she doesn't scream in front of the initiates. I don't think she will anyway.

I turn around and see the first initiates climbing the ladder, Jack's head pops through the hole and Uriah jokingly tries to push him back down. Zeke yells for them to hurry up and grudgingly they do. After Jack, the initiates climb quickly. I turn to Christina, "ready to go?"

A look of determination appears on her face as she nods. Zeke climbs up the ladder last and just as he grabs hold of the edge of the hole the ladder slides from underneath him. Initiates around him laugh and a few offer him help straight away but he makes a joke out of it, doing chin ups. Muscles in his arms tense and bulge and I know this could go for a while. I flashback to the competition he and Tobias had, who could do the most. That was a loooooong day.

"Zeke," I say sternly, hands on hips, waiting for him at the top of the hole. He stops and looks up at me.

"Trissyboo?"

Uriah calls from the zip lining platform, "stop showing off and get over here!"

Zeke groans and pulls himself up with the appearance of ease. As I walk towards Uriah, Zeke catches up and slides his arm around my shoulders, "wanna try harnessing someone?"

Christina wanted to go first so she does. We don't tell her I've never done this before though and she's too consumed with thoughts to check. Shauna talks to her as Zeke tells me what to do.

I pull the straps across her shoulders, back and thighs and Zeke checks to make sure they're tight and secure. Shauna yells out to everyone when to pull the break and how they should drop at the end and Uriah drags Christina to the edge of the building. He shoves her forward over the edge.

Christina whoops as she grows smaller and the rest of us, remembering what it means to be dauntless, cheer along with her.

Shauna goes next, silently flying into nothingness. She raises her fist in the air and we holler for her too.

The moment Shauna disappears from view Uriah calls out, "who wants to go next?!" For a moment the roar of wind is all you can hear. After a few seconds though, Jack and Tash elbow each other towards the zip line trying to go first and the other initiates run to go after them.

Jack ended up going first and he screamed on his way down. Tash leaps forward with anticipation telling us that she's surprised, after that, that Jack didn't chose Amity. We heave her forward and she cheers through the roaring of the wind.

The next initiate is Victor who goes feet first; he doesn't speak as he glides backwards. I'm surprised when I attach the next harness; Alex stands waiting for me, grinning through the anxiety displayed by his pale face and shaking hands.

"You gonna have a go Six?"

"Depends if you puke on your way down or not," I laugh and tighten the straps around the small of his back. "Ready? 3, 2," he starts to say something but I push him forward regardless.

Ash, Jaz and Mathew all choose to go down normally but none scream or cheer on the way down. I imagine the feeling of wind pushing against them as their speed increases flying into nothingness.

When I turn around Zeke smiles and raises his finger to his lips, indicating for me to be quiet. I give him a questioning look as he takes my hand and drags me to the corner of the building. Asta and Jet sit side by side looking out over the marsh lands.

"I needed to prove something to myself," Jet spoke solemnly, "it's just been my two sisters and I for years and everyone knows the difficulty of Dauntless' initiation. I feel like nobody even considered I could do it, like I couldn't care for myself even though I pretty much have all my life."

"I get it," Asta says, "Amity is so controlled, did you know they even drugged the bread?! Alex and I were sick this one time when we were little so we didn't eat for days. That's when we figured it out and knew that as soon as we could, we'd go somewhere different. It wasn't just the bread but that's when we decided it. Our first idea was Candor. We liked the idea of not being lied to by even our own leaders. But we had too much Amity in us for that. I don't know, Dauntless just seemed like the only option. And I mean we couldn't go to Erudite because it's corrupt and Abnegation -"

Zeke's eyes flick to me and he clears his throat quickly and loudly. I silently thank him, still not wanting to hear bad things about my old faction. Both initiates turn around instantly. "As much as I love such a deep and meaningful conversation," he begins and I finished for him by saying, "maybe we could finish it after zip lining?"

Jet allows Asta to go first and after I push her forward she cheers and hollers on the way forward. After Jet's in the harness I wait a few minutes before pushing him to make sure that Asta has time to get down.

"So..." Jet adds into the silence, "how much did you hear?"

Zeke stares out to where the zip line disappears, "just the sob stories at the end."

Jet shuffles in the harness and I check again to make sure everything's tight. He seems to be capable to do too much shuffling. "So Six, what does the next stage of initiation include?"

Smooth Jet. Smooth. I smile with a sarcastic happiness, "oh Jet, didn't you hear? The next stage includes your worst night mares." And with that I push Jet off the edge.

Zeke looks at me to go next and I shuffle forward on my stomach into the harness. Tight straps are pulled down on my thighs and lower back and as Zeke tightens the straps on my shoulders he whispers, "soar like a bird, Tris."

And I do. A wall of wind slams against me like dozens of hands pulling me back but the sound of metal on metal deepens as I glide forward into the sky. Marsh lands in the distance appear never-ending as they fade along the horizon. The zip line curves around and I spread my arms back like the soaring wings of a bird, a raven.

My speed increases and a group of tiny, dark figures approach. I can't tell who is who but I know they are the Dauntless members and initiates that I came with. Through the anger of the roaring wind I whoop, they cheer and holler back to me.

Approaching the end, I feel a bubble of laughter rise in my throat and release it with a cheer. I force my arms against the wind, gathering the strength to pull them against the wind and cross them in front of my chest. Wind whips my hair and I lock my arms into place, gliding the last hundred metres. The crowd of Dauntless still cheer; those that went zip lining showing obvious signs of it, messed up hair, smiles, jitteriness. I close my eyes at the last second and when I open them the zipline has reached it's end. I reach behind me and undo the straps holding me in.

"Ready?" I call down as my catchers assemble. With the response of multiple yes' I drop. Will, Marlene and Shauna help catch me amongst the multitudes of limbs and pointy bones. Two hands grab my arms and pull me onto the ground, I don't know which body belongs to them and I'm too dazed right now to find out. Before I can say anything a distant cheer of adrenalin breaks through the wind.

I holler amongst the rest of the Dauntless, calling out to Zeke in the centre of the long-abandoned city. He pulls the break with ease and drops down. A quick scan of the initiates shows the spark of pure Dauntless appearing in their eyes.

It took me a year but I now know what transforms panic into delight: the realisation that there's something greater to fear. The fear simulations.


	44. But not Divergent

**sTiLl WoRkInG oN mY sToRy, InItIaTeS. hErE's AnOtHeR cHaPtEr.**

**ThAnKs FoR yOuR fAvOuRiTeS + fOlLoWs + ReViEwS!**

**dO yOu WaNt Me To Do A (oNe Or MuLtIpLe?) sImUlAtIoN fOr EvErYoNe Or JuSt SoMe InItIaTeS? aNd WhAt AbOuT fEaR sImS? rEvIeW oR pM mE!**

The familiar warmth of the meeting rooms normally relaxes me, but not today. I feel my back tense and my shoulders rise, systematically alerting me that something's not right. I don't know what, and so far there's no reason to be alerted but I lean back slightly to feel for Tobias' chest, making sure he is still walking right behind me. He wraps his arm around my waist and we keep walking. Christina stands by my side, and Uriah by Tobias' other side. One of Max's men visited the four of us at breakfast, telling us to meet Max immediately at Meeting Room One. With a quick whisper in Tobias' ear he was off. Tobias' face hardened minutely and it was then I began to feel worry rise.

The long walkway connecting meeting rooms one through to three is a narrow hall, it's glass roof several stories above us reveals the only source of light. I notice there are lights on both sides but they are either turned off or don't work. When we reach Meeting Room One, Christina opens the door and is the first to make note of Max's absence.

Tobias' arm tightens around me, I ask him what's happening but he shakes his head slowly and says, "not here, Tris." Before I can ask another question, or process his answer, Max appears at the entrance of the hallway, "not that meeting room." His voice echoes, sending a shudder through my body and in that moment he reminds me of Eric.

"This is where we were told to go to?" Christina pulls her eyebrows together and places her hands on her hips, confidently. Max ignores her comment and we follow him back the way we came.

I walk next to Uriah, now, who gives me a questioning look. I shrug and mirror his expression before hastening my footsteps to catch up with Tobias. We reach the entrance of the walkway we just came down and Max makes a sharp right turn. "Four," Max's voice cuts through the silence. "I forgot my keys." Tobias takes his keys from his pocket and uses the only black key to unlock the door Max was indicating towards. I can't imagine Max forgetting his keys for a moment like this; he's trying to show dominance, exerting power.

When the door swings open Max leads us into utter darkness. Unable to see anything but black, I almost walk into him when he stops suddenly but Tobias grabs my shoulders to stop me walking just before Max halts. How did Tobias know Max was about to stop? Tobias slides around me, kissing my forehead as he squeezes past me in the narrow hallway. I hear his keys jingle and in seconds the room turns white with lights and I have to squint. When I open my eyes, revealing my blotchy vision, we stand in a walkway that mirrors the one from before, same narrow walls, same lights, same height. The only differences seem to be the increase of security and the actual roof over this section replacing glass.

"I've lived here my whole life and never seen this!" Uriah turns to Max in both shock and awe as we take a seat inside the secured meeting room.

I twist around to Tobias, "you've been here before?" He nods and Christina asks, "what is this place?"

Max comes into the room after locking both doors we just came through; this area of the compound is really secure. Max answers Christina for him, "meeting rooms four through to six. Off-limits to public access. Only used for top secrecy. Don't mention this room once you leave."

"Why are we here then?" Christina asks warily still looking around. Content with her surroundings, a simple room with a desk and chairs, she returns her gaze to Max. I notice Tobias shoot a look to Max as he too sits down, but Max didn't notice.

With a sigh and a brief moment of silence Max replies, "I need to talk with you about the fear simulations." We don't say anything so he keeps talking, "normally we would have two to three instructors from the start, then - as you saw last year – one would conduct fear simulations. Because there are four of you this year, I have to work out with you what system you'll be using."

"I'll do it." His voice is stern when he speaks so suddenly but Tobias leans forward, clasping his hands together in front of him.

Uriah begins to light-heartedly object; Four did it last year so one of us should take over this year. Four quips back saying that because he did it last year he could do it with ease this year.

"Christina?" I ask at her silence, even though I too haven't said anything else.

She shakes her head in small but certain movements, "I'd rather stay away from that room!" Looks like those moths really scared her.

"So it's between you three," Max speaks again and I have to rub my eyes with the heel of my palm to keep from rolling them.

There's only the one room so we couldn't do three people at once, and it wouldn't be very inviting if there were three instructors watching each fear. My mind whirs as Tobias and Uriah speak about who should do it, and I land on one thought in particular: Divergent. What if Uriah finds a Divergent? He's been Dauntless his whole life, he'd probably tell Max. I remember Tori telling me of her brother. I remember Tobias finding out about me. The fear, I could be at the bottom of the chasm. I tell the two arguing guys that I want to do it and receive blank and vacant stares. "What?" I ask and Uriah shakes his head, "nothing."

"Maybe Tris and Four should do it then," Christina asks looking to Uriah, "Four's done it before and it wouldn't seem weird for them to do it together." Uriah agrees, Christina pushes his shoulder and he laughs, pretending to be hurt.

"Uriah, Christina, you can go now then," Max's dismissive comment shocks me momentarily. Even when Tobias unlocks the doors for them to leave, I stay confused. Why is this situation so hostile? The same words keep reappearing in my mind, what is going on?

Tobias drags his chair closer to mine and takes my hand. His shoulders tense and he sits tall and I try to do the same, lifting my chin up higher. Max slouches forward, steepled hands, and speaks with a grave voice. "Four knows how to conduct the simulations," quick nod, "but I need to run over a few things. Erudite are closer than ever to ridding society of Divergents. Thanks to them, there weren't any in initiation last year." Max's eyes land on me and I feel lead forming in my stomach, he couldn't know. He doesn't. But he looks to Tobias and I focus on his words instead. "If you find a Divergent, see me immediately. Not in ten minutes, not in an hour, immediately. "

There is a momentary pause in the conversation when Tobias nods accordingly and Max looks to me, "how will we know?" My throat tightens and I struggle to say the words but I hope he didn't notice.

His reply is short and simple but he gives me a knowing smirk that seems to contradict everything he's said so far. "You'll know."

"Welcome to stage two. This is weighted more heavily than stage one because it has more to do with overcoming cowardice." Tobias stands next to me at the end of another dark hallway leading to the simulation room. The blue light above us flickers, catching my eye, so I stare at the ground instead.

"It's difficult to rank high at the end of initiation if you scored low in stage one, but it is possible and it has been done before," by me - I think but don't add. All initiates, Dauntless-Borns and Transfers are packed tightly into the hallway. Christina and Uriah combined the scores of all initiates earlier, ranking them in one list instead of two. I read the order out now:

1- Jack

2- Asta

3- Tash

4- Alex

5- Mathew

6- Victor

7- Jet

8- Ash

9- Jaz

10- Sasha

11- Laura

12- Shane

13- Luke

14- Rees

So Emma must have been the lowest ranking dauntless-born after the fights. The transfers are going well, only two in the bottom four. I hope Laura and Luke do well in this section of training because if not…

After a brief moment of whispering the initiates are silent. "The top seven initiates will be tested today and the bottom seven tomorrow, alternating days until you've gone through three times each," Tobias walks into the simulation room and I follow.

I hear Mathew call out from behind me, "what do you mean by 'tested'?" But we're already gone and he'll find out soon.

Tobias opens a briefcase he bought here, revealing a needle, alcohol swabs and dozens of containers of a bright orange liquid I know to bear the transmitter. "Ready?" He asks and I nod.

Opening the door, I see that the bottom seven initiates have now left leaving todays' group only. "Jack," he looks up and I signal for him to enter. Tash and Mathew look worried and sit up as he goes but I close the door behind him and act like I didn't notice. They're worried, but they probably should be.

"Hmm," Jack says and smirks to Tobias as he takes in his surroundings, "so this is where you two come to make out."

I stand in shock but Tobias just taps the needle, the very big needle, and tells him to sit. I notice Jack bites the inside of his lip as he does, trying not to smile.

"What's that?" Jack asks seriously this time.

"It's a simulation serum," I answer. "We inject you with this and you will, literally, face your fears. The hallucination you're in will be recorded and displayed on the screen, yes we will be watching." Tobias gently glides the needle into the skin in Jack's neck and he exaggerates a fake wince. The tinted, orange liquid disappears into his body. I continue, "you'll stay in the hallucination until you recover, that means lowering your heart rate and calming your breathing. You have thirty seconds before the simulation begins."

To this, Tobias adds, "be brave, Jack." I wrap my fingers around his as Jack closes his eyes and the screen to my left lights up.

The screen shows a perfect view of the pit. Dauntless members hustle around the compound in day-to-day life. I see a younger boy, maybe ten, that looks very much like Jack. It could be a younger sibling. The boy has tears streaming from his eyes and sniffs over and over again. "You'll never belong!" The child screams through another round of sobs. "You don't deserve to be here!"

Many other Dauntless stand with the boy now, shouting things out. I watch on the screen as the simulation spins around and around seeing hundreds of people circling in on Jack. Their shouts sound like thunder, "you're not Dauntless," "get out of our faction." One figure marches through the crowds, receiving respective glances from those around him. The broad shoulders and toned muscle immediately allow me to recognise him as Max. "Jack," he begins through the simulation, "I thought we already spoke about this." His face hardens immediately and I hear Jack mumble 'no' from his chair. Simulation Max continues, "you're not Dauntless, you never were." To this the crowd scream their agreements and Jack backs into the increasing crowd behind him, Max continuing Jack's exile, "you're factionless now. You'll fit in well there." The crowd increase behind Jack consuming him in their rage, Max's white teeth curl into a snarl.

I peel my eyes from the screen and look to Jack. He swipes out in front of him trying to push through the endless crowd of Dauntless members wishing for his exile. I look to Tobias, he sits with his eyes set to the screen. "I feel bad watching this," I whisper as if Jack could hear me, I'm not sure if he can.

"We have to," he whispers and momentarily adds, "could you organise the needle for the next person?" I nod, grateful to have something to do. After swabbing the needle, I place a new serum into it and flick back to the screen. Jack is hunched in a ball on the ground, the crowd around him taking advantage of his submission by shouting louder. Some, I notice, even laugh. I watch the gentle rise and fall of Jack's chest, his fingers plugged into his ears, eyes slammed shut, trying to block out his new atmosphere.

The moment I put the newly organised needle into it's case Jack sits up straight, puffing. I console him while Tobias does something on the screen. When his breathing returns to normal he tries to fake a laugh, "you saw that?"

"Yeah," Tobias answers, leaning over to him, "it'll be easier next time."

"You mean I have to do it again?" His eyes widen and he sits up straighter, suddenly worried.

I nod slowly, "you'll go in three times." He nods, processing it and I open the door for him to leave. "How long?" I ask Tobias after Jack goes to the dorms.

"Eight minutes. Pretty fast."

"But not Divergent." I open the door after finishing my words, Tobias typing something on the screen again, I call out the next name, "Asta."


End file.
